Premium
Dissolution Behavior and Varied Mesoporosity of Zeolites by NH 4 F Etching
Author(s) -
Qin Zhengxing,
You Zhenchao,
Bozhilov Krassimir N.,
Kolev Stefan K.,
Yang Wei,
Shen Yanfeng,
Jin Xin,
Gilson JeanPierre,
Mintova Svetlana,
Vayssilov Georgi N.,
Valtchev Valentin
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.202104339
Subject(s) - dissolution , zeolite , microporous material , mesoporous material , chemical engineering , materials science , thermal diffusivity , etching (microfabrication) , nano , mineralogy , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis , thermodynamics , composite material , physics , layer (electronics) , engineering
The mesopores formation in zeolite crystals has long been considered to occur through the stochastic hydrolysis and removal of framework atoms. Here, we investigate the NH 4 F etching of representative small, medium, and large pore zeolites and show that the zeolite dissolution behavior, therefore the mesopore formation probability, is dominated by zeolite architecture at both nano‐ and sub‐nano scales. At the nano‐scale, the hidden mosaics of zeolite structure predetermine the spatio‐temporal dissolution of the framework, hence the size, shape, location, and orientation of the mesopores. At the sub‐nano scale, the intrinsic micropore size and connectivity jointly determine the diffusivity of reactant and dissolved products. As a result, the dissolution propensity varies from removing small framework fragments to consuming nanodomains and up to full digestion of the outmost part of zeolite crystals. The new knowledge will lead to new understanding of zeolite dissolution behavior and new adapted strategies for tailoring hierarchical zeolites.