Aromatic and aliphatic compounds confined within pores of different sizes

The dynamic properties, such as diffusivity expressing the mobility of molecules, suggest that when a liquid is restricted within pores, it behaves in a different way (at the molecular scale) than when it is in a bulk. This indicates that the structural properties of liquids, such as arrangement of molecules, in both cases is different as well. In this study we explore two confining materials that vary by the pore size - mesoporous SBA-15 and microporous ZSM-5, to expand our knowledge on how the pore size influences the structural properties of confined fluids (benzene and cyclohexane, in this case). Understanding these correlations will lead to advancing an accurate nanoscale design of systems comprising of confined fluids, in fields such as catalysis, oil recovery, CO2 capture, fuel cells, membrane separation, and drug release systems.