Dispersible Exfoliated Zeolite Nanosheets and Their Application as a Selective Membrane

Journal Article · Thu Oct 06 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1208891· OSTI ID:1065597

Varoon, Kumar ^[1]; Zhang, Xueyi ^[1]; Elyassi, Bahman ^[1]; Brewer, Damien D. ^[1]; Gettel, Melissa ^[1]; Kumar, Sandeep ^[1]; Lee, J. Alex ^[1]; Maheshwari, Sundeep ^[1]; Mittal, Anudha ^[1]; Sung, Chun-Yi ^[1]; Cococcioni, Matteo ^[1]; Francis, Lorraine F. ^[1]; McCormick, Alon V. ^[1]; Mkhoyan, K. Andre ^[1]; Tsapatsis, Michael ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

Thin zeolite films are attractive for a wide range of applications, including molecular sieve membranes, catalytic membrane reactors, permeation barriers, and low-dielectric-constant materials. Synthesis of thin zeolite films using high-aspect-ratio zeolite nanosheets is desirable because of the packing and processing advantages of the nanosheets over isotropic zeolite nanoparticles. Attempts to obtain a dispersed suspension of zeolite nanosheets via exfoliation of their lamellar precursors have been hampered because of their structure deterioration and morphological damage (fragmentation, curling, and aggregation). We demonstrated the synthesis and structure determination of highly crystalline nanosheets of zeolite frameworks MWW and MFI. The purity and morphological integrity of these nanosheets allow them to pack well on porous supports, facilitating the fabrication of molecular sieve membranes.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• DOE Contract Number: SC0001004
• OSTI ID: 1065597
• Journal Information: Science, Vol. 334(6052), Issue 6052; Related Information: CCEI partners with the University of Delaware (lead); Brookhaven National Laboratory; California Institute of Technology; Columbia University; University of Delaware; Lehigh University; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Minnesota; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; University of Pennsylvania; Princeton University; Rutgers University; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
catalysis (homogeneous)
catalysis (heterogeneous)
biofuels (including algae and biomass)
bio-inspired
hydrogen and fuel cells
materials and chemistry by design
synthesis (novel materials)
synthesis (self-assembly)
synthesis (scalable processing)