| Popis: |
Zeolite L (ZL) is a unique host. It accepts a large number of different guests inside of its nanochannels and allows specific modification of its surface. This is due to the combination of its chemical, structural, optical, and mechanical properties. The resulting composites have been investigated in a surprisingly broad field of applications, ranging from catalysis, lubricant technology, pigments, sensing, optics, optoelectronics, biology, drug delivery, diagnostics, and even human medicine. ZL seems to be the only known thermally and mechanically stable material with linear channels of about 1 nm diameter, where the size of the particles and, hence, the length of the channels can be tuned in the range from about 30 nm up to 20,000 nm, which can be synthesized as crystals of different morphology such as discs, barrels, and elongated tubes. We discuss the synthesis of ZL, the many guests that have been inserted, the functionalization of the channel entrances with stopcocks and decoration of the coat, and different patterns created with ZL crystals. Much progress has been made in understanding the structure of guest-ZL composites. ZL has been used in catalysis and for creating artificial photonic antenna systems for light harvesting, transport, and trapping. The advances using ZL composites for diagnostics and for biological and biomedical applications are impressive. This remarkable evolution justifies to devote this article to zeolite L. |
