Koki Muraoka

Mesoporous architectures with highly crystallized frameworks

Porous materials have played an increasingly critical role in materials sciences and chemistry. From the viewpoint of applications, highly crystallized mesoporous architectures are very promising mainly due to their unique properties arising from the crystallized frameworks and many exciting applications in diverse fields. In this Highlight article, we summarize recent innovative researches in the creation of mesoporous architectures possessing crystalline pore walls. In particular, new strategies to synthesize highly crystallized mesoporous metals and metal oxides, metal–organic frameworks with large-sized mesopores, and zeolites with hierarchical mesoporosity are described. These mesoporous architectures show a lot of promise in energy and environment-related areas.

Energy Analysis of Aluminosilicate Zeolites with Comprehensive Ranges of Framework Topologies, Chemical Compositions, and Aluminum Distributions

The contents and locations of Al in the zeolite frameworks are one of the key factors determining the physicochemical properties of zeolites. Systematic evaluation of the characteristics of zeolites with a wide variety of framework topologies, a wide range of Si/Al ratios, and various locations of Al is of great significance, but very challenging due to the limitation of the realizable ranges of Al contents in zeolites as well as the limited information on the Al locations obtained from the current analytical techniques. Here, we report the systematic analysis of the energetics of aluminosilicate zeolites with 209 existing framework topologies at different Si/Al ratios using molecular mechanics. More than 43 000 initial structures were generated to give comprehensive views of the energetics of zeolites. The results coincide well with the structural knowledge obtained experimentally. It was revealed that the relation between the relative framework energies versus the Al contents varies in accordance with the topologies, suggesting that the relative stability of zeolites depends not only on the topologies, but also on the substituting contents of Al. For particular topologies with the same Al contents, in addition, comparisons between random and specific distributions of Al showed that zeolite with Al at a particular T site is energetically more stable than those with random distributions, suggesting the inherent influences of the Al locations. The contents and locations of Al in zeolites likely have a certain preference that may reflect the range of chemical compositions, the Al distributions, and consequently the physicochemical properties of realizable aluminosilicate zeolites.

Organic-Free Synthesis of a Highly Siliceous Faujasite Zeolite with Spatially Biased Q4(nAl) Si Speciation

We report the most siliceous FAU-type zeolite, HOU-3, prepared via a one-step organic-free synthesis route. Computational studies indicate that it is thermodynamically feasible to synthesize FAU with SAR=2-7, though kinetic factors seemingly impose a more restricted upper limit for HOU-3 (SAR≈3). Our findings suggest that a slow rate of crystallization and/or low concentration of Na+ ions in HOU-3 growth mixtures facilitate Si incorporation into the framework. Interestingly, Q4 (nAl) Si speciation measured by solid-state NMR can only be modeled with a few combinations of Al positioning at tetrahedral sites in the crystal unit cell, indicating the distribution of Si(-O-Si)4-n (-O-Al)n species is spatially biased as opposed to being random. Achieving higher SAR is desirable for improved zeolite (hydro)thermal stability and enhanced catalytic performance, which we demonstrate in benchmark tests that show HOU-3 is superior to commercial zeolite Y.

Resolving the Framework Position of Organic Structure-Directing Agents in Hierarchical Zeolites via Polarized Stimulated Raman Scattering

The direct synthesis of hierarchically intergrown silicalite-1 can be achieved using a specific diquaternary ammonium agent. However, the location of these molecules in the zeolite framework, which is critical to understand the formation of the material, remains unclear. Where traditional characterization tools have previously failed, herein we use polarized stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy to resolve molecular organization inside few-micron-sized crystals. Through a combination of experiment and first-principles calculations, our investigation reveals the preferential location of the templating agent inside the linear pores of the MFI framework. Besides illustrating the attractiveness of SRS microscopy in the field of material science to study and spatially resolve local molecular distribution as well as orientation, these results can be exploited in the design of new templating agents for the preparation of hierarchical zeolites.

Directing Aluminum Atoms into Energetically Favorable Tetrahedral Sites in a Zeolite Framework by Using Organic Structure-Directing Agents

The Al location in zeolites can have massive influences on the zeolite properties because it directly correlates with the cationic active sites. Herein, the synthesis of IFR zeolites with controlled Al distribution at different tetrahedral sites (T sites) is reported. The computational calculations suggest that organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) used for zeolite synthesis can alter the energetically favorable T sites for Al. Zeolite products synthesized under identical conditions but with different OSDAs are found to have altered fractions of Al at different T sites in accordance with the energies derived from the zeolite-OSDA complexes. Our finding thus provides evidence for the ability of OSDAs to direct Al into more energetically favorable T sites, thereby offering rational synthetic guidelines for the selective placement of Al into specific crystallographic sites.