Amer Inayat

Zeolitic Materials with Hierarchical Porous Structures

During the past several years, different kinds of hierarchical structured zeolitic materials have been synthesized due to their highly attractive properties, such as superior mass/heat transfer characteristics, lower restriction of the diffusion of reactants in the mesopores, and low pressure drop. Our contribution provides general information regarding types and preparation methods of hierarchical zeolitic materials and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Thereafter, recent advances in the preparation and characterization of hierarchical zeolitic structures within the crystallites by post-synthetic treatment methods, such as dealumination or desilication; and structured devices by in situ and ex situ zeolite coatings on open-cellular ceramic foams as (non-reactive as well as reactive) supports are highlighted. Specific advantages of using hierarchical zeolitic catalysts/structures in selected catalytic reactions, such as benzene to phenol (BTOP) and methanol to olefins (MTO) are presented.

Minkowski tensor shape analysis of cellular, granular and porous structures

Predicting physical properties of materials with spatially complex structures is one of the most challenging problems in material science. One key to a better understanding of such materials is the geometric characterization of their spatial structure. Minkowski tensors are tensorial shape indices that allow quantitative characterization of the anisotropy of complex materials and are particularly well suited for developing structure-property relationships for tensor-valued or orientation-dependent physical properties. They are fundamental shape indices, in some sense being the simplest generalization of the concepts of volume, surface and integral curvatures to tensor-valued quantities. Minkowski tensors are based on a solid mathematical foundation provided by integral and stochastic geometry, and are endowed with strong robustness and completeness theorems. The versatile definition of Minkowski tensors applies widely to different types of morphologies, including ordered and disordered structures. Fast linear-time algorithms are available for their computation. This article provides a practical overview of the different uses of Minkowski tensors to extract quantitative physically-relevant spatial structure information from experimental and simulated data, both in 2D and 3D. Applications are presented that quantify (a) alignment of co-polymer films by an electric field imaged by surface force microscopy; (b) local cell anisotropy of spherical bead pack models for granular matter and of closed-cell liquid foam models; (c) surface orientation in open-cell solid foams studied by X-ray tomography; and (d) defect densities and locations in molecular dynamics simulations of crystalline copper.