1. Silicas with closed cylindrical nanoporesMichal Kruk, CUNY College of Staten Island, DMR 0907487 Outcome: Researchers from the College of Staten Island (CSI) developed a pathway to silicas with closed cylindrical nanopores. Impact: This work provides a conceptual framework for the development of low-dielectric-constant materials for applications in electronics. The development also creates an avenue to a new generation of catalyst supports and media for adsorption or immobilization of molecules or clusters of different sizes. Explanation: Surfactant-micelle-templating has become a major pathway to nanoporous materials with well-defined accessible pores of 2-40 nm diameters. The research at CSI provided evidence that in cases of pores templated by non-ionic surfactants with poly(ethylene oxide) hydrophilic blocks, the pore space is surrounded by a microporous wall at early stages of the synthesis. If such materials are subjected to high temperature treatment (calcination), the pore wall consolidates, which may make it impermeable to small molecules, such as nitrogen, resulting in closed pores, which can be of spherical or cylindrical shape. If the initial stage of the synthesis is followed by a hydrothermal treatment, well-known silicas with readily accessible pores are obtained.