Polymer/gas clathrates for gas storage and controlled release

The nanoporous cryst. phase of a cheap com. polymer shows, already at room temp., large uptake of gas mols. (e.g., butadiene and carbon dioxide) leading to polymer/gas clathrate phases. These clathrate phases have been characterized by X-ray diffraction and IR linear dichroism measurements. Gas release kinetics are strongly reduced as a consequence of clathrate formation and can be further reduced by (010) orientation of the host phase, i.e., by placing the ac layers of close-packed enantiomorphous polymer helixes nearly parallel to the film plane. The reported results indicate that this robust and easy-to-process polymeric cryst. framework is suitable for gas storage and controlled release.