Exploring adsorption processes in porous optical resonators – EXAPOR

It is well known that the structure of the materials can be engineered to interact with light. What is less known is that, in some cases, this interaction can be so strong that physical and chemical properties of the system can be modified even in absence of light. One emerging strategy to engineer properties of matter consists in designing optical devices, called resonators, that interact with molecular vibrations in the infrared range. This effect, called vibrational strong-coupling, has proved to lead to surprising modification of the chemical reactivity and of the properties of homogenous liquid and solid-state systems. Extending this principle to porous materials, in which gas or liquid molecules are adsorbed (and react) at the surface of a solid, would represent a conceptually new tool for applications such as gas capture/storage, heterogeneous (electro)catalysis or vapor sensing. However experimental demonstrations of VSC on porous materials are still missing. In this project, we will provide the tools for this quest by fabricating Porous Optical Resonators in which the adsorbate molecules will couple strongly with light when entering in the porosity, and this even in the dark . Three partners with diverse expertises will team-up to integrate porous adsorbents and catalysts into optical resonators and engineer them into devices to manage gas/liquid mass transfer. We will develop characterization tools to probe optical, structural and chemical evolutions of the porous optical resonators in controlled environments. Optical simulations will support the experimental work by providing guidelines to design the devices. Due to its technological importance we will mainly focus on water based adsorption processes taking place in nanoporous materials. By doing so, we will unveil the effect of VSC on phase transition or reactivity in confined nanopores with future possible implications for key technologies, such as gas capture and heterogeneous (electro) catalysis.