Co-reporter:Dongliang Jin, Zhiting Liu, Jingwei Zheng, Weiming Hua, Jiao Chen, Kake Zhu and Xinggui Zhou
RSC Advances 2016 vol. 6(Issue 39) pp:32523-32533
Publication Date(Web):18 Mar 2016
DOI:10.1039/C6RA03039D
Integrating hierarchical porosity over microporous zeotype materials is an effective way to promote their mass transfer properties and catalytic performances. A combined synthetic strategy using small molecular growth inhibitor 1,2,3-hexanetriol and tumbling crystallization condition to generate hierarchically organized SAPO-11 is herein presented. The addition of 1,2,3-hexanetriol in the synthetic gel of SAPO-11 under agitating conditions significantly altered its crystallization behaviour, resulting in the formation of a hierarchically organized architecture. An underlying nonclassical from-shell-to-core crystallization has been disclosed by time-dependent observation of the formation process. The hierarchically self-organized structure has been characterized by a suite of characterization techniques, such as XRD, N2 physisorption, SEM, TEM, mercury intrusion measurements, 27Al, 29Si, 31P MAS NMR and pyridine adsorption IR (Py-IR). The structure featuring barrel-shaped architecture is comprised of aligned 300–400 nm primary building blocks with voids in between, constructing an auxiliary macro-/meso-pore system open to external surfaces. The catalytic performance of Pt supported on hierarchical SAPO-11 in n-heptane hydroisomerization has been assessed, showing that both catalytic activity and isomer yield have been increased with respect to a conventional sample. As the acidity for the hierarchical SAPO-11 is comparable to the conventional sample, the enhancement in catalytic performance is attributed to the small primary crystal size and macro-/meso-pore-connectivity, that are important for mass transfer.
Co-reporter:Jingwei Zheng, Weiping Zhang, Zhiting Liu, Qisheng Huo, Kake Zhu, Xinggui Zhou, Weikang Yuan
Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 2016 Volume 225() pp:74-87
Publication Date(Web):1 May 2016
DOI:10.1016/j.micromeso.2015.12.007
•Orientation attachment dominates the crystallization of SAPO-34 in dry gel synthesis.•A route to prepare hierarchical SAPO-34 based on orientated attachment is proposed.•Growth inhibitor 1,2,3-hexanetriol is used to generate hierarchical SAPO-34.•Hierarchical SAPO-34 enhances catalytic lifetime in CH3Cl to olefin conversion.Understanding silicoaluminophosphate formation mechanism lays the foundation for their structure manipulation via crystallization process control. Crystallization of SAPO-34 from a dry gel using tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide as structure-directing agent was monitored to unravel the formation mechanism. The initial gel was found to form a lamellar precursor first, which subsequently underwent phase transformation to discrete SAPO-34 nanocrystallites. The nanocrystallites thereafter mutually aligned with neighboring ones via a non-classic oriented attachment growth mechanism, affording large crystals as a result of grain boundary elimination. A new protocol to prepare hierarchical SAPO-34 was designed by hindering the aggregation of primary nanocrystallites with a growth inhibitor 1,2,3-hexanetriol. The structure of hierarchical SAPO-34 was characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption, mercury intrusion, SEM, TEM, as well as 27Al, 29Si, 31P MAS NMR spectra and compared with a conventional SAPO-34. More Si islands were formed via combined SM3 (Al+P pairs substitution by 2Si) and SM2 (P substitution by Si) mechanism for hierarchical SAPO-34 as Si was not fully incorporated into the precursor lamellar phase. NH3-TPD showed that hierarchical SAPO-34 has comparable acidic strength to conventional SAPO-34. The obtained hierarchical SAPO-34 is comprised of <100 nm crystallites and possesses well-connected mesopores, both factors are crucial to mass transfer in zeotype materials. Hierarchical SAPO-34 exhibited a 1.5 times lifetime increase in catalytic chloromethane to olefin conversion with respect to a conventional counterpart.
Co-reporter:Gregory S. Hutchings; Yan Zhang; Jian Li; Bryan T. Yonemoto; Xinggui Zhou; Kake Zhu;Feng Jiao
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015 Volume 137(Issue 12) pp:4223-4229
Publication Date(Web):March 11, 2015
DOI:10.1021/jacs.5b01006
Oxygen evolution from water poses a significant challenge in solar fuel production because it requires an efficient catalyst to bridge the one-electron photon capture process with the four-electron oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, a new strategy was developed to synthesize nonsupported ultrasmall cobalt oxide nanocubanes through an in situ phase transformation mechanism using a layered Co(OH)(OCH3) precursor. Under sonication, the precursor was exfoliated and transformed into cobalt oxide nanocubanes in the presence of NaHCO3–Na2SiF6 buffer solution. The resulting cobalt catalyst with an average particle size less than 2 nm exhibited a turnover frequency of 0.023 per second per cobalt in photocatalytic water oxidation. X-ray absorption results suggested a unique nanocubane structure, where 13 cobalt atoms fully coordinated with oxygen in an octahedral arrangement to form 8 Co4O4 cubanes, which may be responsible for the exceptionally high OER activity.
Co-reporter:Wen Song, Zhiting Liu, Liping Liu, Anne Ladegaard Skov, Nan Song, Guang Xiong, Kake Zhu and Xinggui Zhou
RSC Advances 2015 vol. 5(Issue 39) pp:31195-31204
Publication Date(Web):26 Mar 2015
DOI:10.1039/C5RA02493E
A route to generate hierarchically porous zeolite ZSM-11 has been paved via solvent evaporation induced self-assembly assisted by hexadecyltrimethoxysilane to produce a preformed dry gel, followed by its subsequent transformation into zeolite via steam-assisted-crystallization. The crystallization in dry gel has been found to undergo an orientated attachment growth mechanism whereby hexadecyltrimethoxysilane directs the formation of auxiliary mesopores and inhibits the fusion of primary nucleates. Measurements such as XRD, SEM, TEM, N2-physisorption, and TEM for an inverse replica of Pt derived from hierarchical ZSM-11 have been conducted to characterize the textural properties of the material. Ammonia temperature-programmed-desorption (NH3-TPD) measurements and infrared spectra using probe molecules such as pyridine (Py-IR) and 2,4,6-collidine (Coll-IR) have been collected to investigate the acidic properties as well as the accessibility of the acid sites. The hierarchical ZSM-11 possesses more acid sites on the mesopore surfaces that are accessible towards large probe molecules such as 2,4,6-collidine. This improvement together with the enhanced pore-connectivity brings about an increase in 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene cracking activity and benzene selectivity with respect to a conventional counterpart.
Co-reporter:Zuping Kong;Bin Yue;Wei Deng;Mengguo Yan;Yangfeng Peng;Heyong He
Applied Organometallic Chemistry 2014 Volume 28( Issue 4) pp:239-243
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/aoc.3115
Synthesis of hierarchically porous zeolites has drawn intensive interest because of their improved catalytic performance. It is highly desirable to find ways to generate these materials in a low-cost and scalable way for their commercial applications. A solvent evaporation route has been established to synthesize hierarchically porous titanosilicalite-1 (TS-1). In the protocol, hexadecyltrimethoxysilane was added to an ethanolic solution of titanium isopropoxide, tetraethyl orthosilicate and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide, i.e. the embryo solution of TS-1. The solution was subjected to solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly to afford an ordered dry gel. Subsequent steam-assisted crystallization converted the dry gel into a hierarchically porous TS-1. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), UV–visible diffusive reflectance spectroscopy, N2 physisorption and electron microscopic characterizations have been employed to elucidate the structure. Ti is incorporated into the tetrahedral sites of the MFI structure and mesopores around 20 nm penetrating the crystalline framework are formed. Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane plays a key role in creating mesopores as well as increasing the crystal size. The hierarchically porous TS-1 exhibits improved activity in styrene oxidation and phenol hydroxylation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Co-reporter:Jiao Chen; Weiming Hua;Dr. Yu Xiao; Qisheng Huo; Kake Zhu; Xinggui Zhou
Chemistry - A European Journal 2014 Volume 20( Issue 45) pp:14744-14755
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/chem.201402069
Abstract
The crystallization of zeolite beta in a dry gel system is found to follow the orientated attachment growth route, escorted with a temporal morphology change from bulky gel, through aggregation of the particulate to large zeolitic crystals. Modification of the precrystallized gel with organosilanes can be used to tune the morphology of the ultimate beta. When hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HTS) is employed to modify precrystallized gel, a resumed secondary growth produces a hybrid mesocrystal of agglomerated nanozeolites. Combustive removal of organics leads to the formation of hierarchically porous zeolite beta of 100 to 160 nm, composed of nanocrystal building units ranging from 20 to 40 nm, with a noticeable micropore volume of 0.19 mL g−1 and a meso/macropore size between 5 and 80 nm. Conversely, when 1,8-bis(triethoxysilyl)octane (BTO) is utilized to modify the same precrystallized gel, assemblages of discrete beta nanozeolite of around 35 nm are generated. These assemblages construct a hierarchical zeolite beta with a micropore volume of 0.20 mL g−1 and auxiliary pores ranging from 5 to 100 nm. Both organosilanes bring about well-connected hierarchical pore networks. HTS has little effect on the Brønsted/Lewis acidity, whereas BTO causes a substantial reduction of strong Brønsted acid sites. The hierarchical beta zeolite-supported Pt catalyst exhibits improved catalytic performance for the hydroisomerization of n-heptane.
Co-reporter:Wei Deng, He Xuan, Chao Zhang, Yunyi Gao, Xuedong Zhu, Kake Zhu, Qisheng Huo, Zhijie Zhou
Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering (August 2014) Volume 22(Issue 8) pp:921-929
Publication Date(Web):1 August 2014
DOI:10.1016/j.cjche.2014.06.009
Methylation of benzene is an alternative low-cost route to produce xylenes, but selectivity to xylene remains low over conventional zeolitic catalysts. In this work, a combined dry-gel-conversion and steam-assisted-crystallization method is used to synthesize hierarchically porous zeolite ZSM-5 with varied Si/Al malar ratios. X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, NH3-temperature programmed desorption (TPD), scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) measurement and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) are employed to characterize the structure and acidity of both hierarchically porous zeolites and their conventional counterparts. The method is found to be applicable to ZSM-5 with molar ratios of Si/Al from 20 to 180. The ZSM-5 zeolites are used as catalysts for benzene methylation at 460 °C to investigate the effect of additional porosity and Si/Al ratios. At low Si/Al ratios, the benzene conversions over conventional and hierarchical ZSM-5 are close, and selectivity to toluene is high over hierarchical ZSM-5. It is found that hierarchical porosity markedly enhances the utility of zeolite and the selectivity towards xylenes via improved mass transport at higher Si/Al ratios. Under an optimized hierarchical ZSM-5 catalyst, xylene selectivity reaches 34.9% at a Si/Al ratio of 180.Hierarchically porous ZSM-5 effectively promotes xylene selectivity for catalytic benzene methylation. Under an optimized hierarchical ZSM-5 catalyst, xylene selectivity reaches 34.9% at a Si/Al ratio of 180.Download full-size image
