Wikipedia, and this journal article talk of a microporous and mesoporous material MCM-41. Although MCM-41 has dynamic sized pores which can be changed, but it is hydrothermally unstable.
Can this microporous material be used for ion-exchange similar to zeolites? What is the property that typically allows a substance to act as an ion-exchange resin?
Ion-exchange resins need to have charged groups that can bind your ions of interest. If a certain ion-exchanger will work for your problem depends on what kind of ions you want you to exchange or separate. The pores must be larger than your molecules of interest. E.g. polystyrene resins which are fine for water desalination (to remove e.g. calcium and magnesium ions) won't work well for separating proteins, as their pores are too small for biomolecules to enter the beads.
