The effect of local defects on water adsorption in silicalite-1 zeolite: a joint experimental and molecular simulation study

Calorimetric Heats of Intrusion of LiCl Aqueous Solutions in Hydrophobic MFI-Type Zeosil: Influence of the Concentration

For the first time, we report calorimetric measurements of intrusion of aqueous LiCl solutions in a hydrophobic pure siliceous MFI zeolite (silicalite-1) under high pressure. Our results show that the intrusion heats are strongly dependent on the LiCl concentration. The intrusion process is endothermic for diluted solutions (molar H2O/LiCl = 12) as well as for water, but it becomes exothermic for a concentration close to saturation (molar H2O/LiCl = 4). Analysis of the data in the framework of wetting thermodynamics shows that besides surface wetting, other phenomena occur during intrusion, such as hydrogen-bond weakening and composition change. In all cases, water is preferentially intruded so that the intruded phase becomes more diluted than the bulk solution. In the case of the most diluted solution, only water molecules seemed to be intruded. Furthermore, silicalite-1 is shown to be very stable in the presence of LiCl solution, with no noticeable structural and textural modifications observed after intrusion.

Covalent Organic Frameworks for Water Harvesting from Air

Despite approximately 70 % of the earth being covered by water, water shortage has emerged as an urgent social challenge. Sorbent-based atmospheric water harvesting stands out as a potent approach to alleviate the situation, particularly in arid regions. This method requires adsorbents with ample working capacity, rapid kinetics, low energy costs, and long-term stability under operating conditions. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of crystalline porous materials and offer distinct advantages due to their high specific surface area, structural diversity, and robustness. These properties enable the rational design and customization of their water-harvesting capabilities. Herein, the basic concepts about the water sorption process within COFs, including the parameters that qualitatively or quantitatively describe their water isotherms and the mechanism are summarized. Then, the recent methods used to prepare COFs-based water harvesters are reviewed, emphasizing the structural diversity of COFs and presenting the common empirical understandings of these endeavors. Finally, challenges and research concepts are proposed to help develop next-generation COFs-based water harvesters.

Spontaneous Dipole Reorientation in Confined Water and Its Effect on Wetting/Dewetting of Hydrophobic Nanopores

The properties of nanoconfined fluids are important for a broad range of natural and engineering systems. In particular, wetting/dewetting of hydrophobic nanoporous materials is crucial due to their broad applicability for molecular separation and liquid purification; energy storage, conversion, recuperation, and dissipation; for catalysis, chromatography, and so on. In this work, a rapid, orchestrated, and spontaneous dipole reorientation was observed in hydrophobic nanotubes of various pore sizes d (7.9-16.5 Å) via simulations. This phenomenon leads to the fragmentation of water clusters in the narrow nanopores (d = 7.9, 10 Å) and strongly affects dewetting through cluster repulsion. The cavitation in these pores has an electrostatic origin. The dependence of hydrogen-bonded network properties on the tube aperture is obtained and is used to explain wetting (intrusion)-dewetting (extrusion) hysteresis. Computer simulations and experimental data demonstrate that d equals ca. 12.5 Å is a threshold between a nonhysteretic (spring) behavior, where intrusion-extrusion is reversible, and a hysteretic one (shock absorber), where hysteresis is prominent. This work suggests that water clustering and the electrostatic nature of cavitation are important factors that can be effectively exploited for controlling the wetting/dewetting of nanoporous materials.

Indigenous mixotrophic aerobic denitrifiers stimulated by oxygen micro/nanobubble-loaded microporous biochar

The prevalence of hypoxia in surface sediment inhibits the growth of aerobic denitrifiers in natural waters. A novel oxygen micro/nanobubble-loaded microporous biochar (OMB) was developed to activate indigenous aerobic denitrifiers in this study. The results indicate a thin-layer OMB capping mitigates hypoxia effectively. Following a 30-day microcosm-based incubation, a 60 % decrease in total nitrogen concentration was observed, and the oxygen penetration depth in the sediment was increased from <4.0 mm to 38.4 mm. High-throughput sequencing revealed the stimulation of indigenous mixotrophic aerobic denitrifiers, including autotrophic denitrifiers such as Hydrogenophaga and Thiobacillus, heterotrophic denitrifiers like Limnobacter and unclassified_f_Methylophilaceae, and heterotrophic nitrification aerobic denitrification bacteria, including Shinella and Acidovorax, with total relative abundance reaching up to 38.1 %. Further analysis showed OMB enhanced the overall collaborative relationships among microorganisms and promoted the expression of nitrification- and denitrification-related genes. This study introduces an innovative strategy for stimulating indigenous aerobic denitrifiers in aquatic ecosystems.

Molecular Simulation of the Impact of Defects on Electrolyte Intrusion in Zeolites

We have investigated through molecular simulation the intrusion of electrolytes in two representative pure-silica zeolites, silicalite-1 and chabazite, in which point defects were introduced in varying amounts. We distinguish between two types of defects, considering either "weak" or "strong" silanol nest defects, resulting in different hydration behaviors. In the presence of weak defects, the hydration process occurs through a homogeneous nucleation process, while with strong defects, we observe an initial adsorption followed by a filling of the nanoporous volume at a higher pressure. However, we show that electrolytes do not penetrate the zeolites, and these defects appear to have only marginal influence on the thermodynamics of electrolyte intrusion. While replacing pure water by the electrolyte solution shifts the intrusion pressure toward higher values because of the drop of water saturation vapor pressure, an increase in hydrophilicity of the framework due to point defects has the opposite effect, showing that controlling the amount of defects in zeolites is crucial for storage energy applications.

Toward the development of sensors for lung cancer: The adsorption of 1-propanol on hydrophobic zeolites

A healthy breath is mainly composed of water, carbon dioxide, molecular nitrogen, and oxygen and it contains many species, in small quantities, which are related to the ambient atmosphere and the metabolism. The breath of a person affected by lung cancer presents a concentration of 1-propanol higher than usual. In this context, the development of specific sensors to detect 1-propanol from breath is of high interest. The amount of propanol usually detected on the breath is of few ppb; this small quantity is a handicap for a reliable diagnostic. This limitation can be overcome if the sensor is equipped with a pre-concentrator. Our studies aim to provide an efficient material playing this role. This will contribute to the development of reliable and easy to use lung cancer detectors. For this, we investigate the properties of a few hydrophobic porous materials (chabazite, silicalite-1, and dealuminated faujasite). Hydrophobic structures are used to avoid saturation of materials by the water present in the exhaled breath. Our experimental and simulation results suggest that silicalite -1 (MFI) is the most suitable structure to be used as a pre-concentrator.

Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks as Tailor-Made Scaffolds for Water Harvesting

Developing materials to harvest water from the air is of great importance to alleviate the water shortage for people living in arid regions, where the annual average relative humidity (RH) is lower than 0.4. In this work, we report a general nitrogen atom incorporation strategy to prepare high-performance covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for water harvesting from the air in arid areas. A series of COFs, namely COF-W1, COF-W2, and COF-W3 were developed for this purpose. Different contents of nitrogen were embedded into COFs by incorporating pyridine units into the building blocks. With the increasing content of nitrogen from COF-W1 to COF-W3, the inflection points of their water isotherms shift distinctly from RH values from 0.65 to 0.25. Significantly, COF-W3 exhibits the lowest inflection point at a low RH value of 0.25 and reaches a high uptake capacity of 0.28 g g-1 at 25 °C with a low hysteresis loop. Moreover, the gram-scale COF-W3 retains its high performance, which renders it more attractive in water harvesting. This work demonstrates the feasibility of this nitrogen incorporation strategy to acquire high-performance COFs as water harvesters in the future.

Mixture Adsorption in Nanoporous Zeolite and at Its External Surface: In-Pore and Surface Selectivity

Using toluene, ethylene, and water as gas compounds with different representative molecular interactions, we perform atom-scale simulations for their mixtures to investigate the selectivity of the core nanoporosity and external surface in a prototypical zeolite. As expected, the overall behavior suggests that increasing the pressure of a given component promotes the desorption of the coadsorbing species. However, for water-toluene mixtures, we identify that the pseudohydrogen bonding between water and toluene leads to beneficial coadsorption as toluene adsorption in the low-pressure range promotes water adsorption. Moreover, when the zeolite is completely filled with water, toluene adsorption does not occur due to steric repulsion, and ethylene shows oversolubility as the amount of ethylene per water molecule is significantly larger than in bulk water. The underlying oversolubility mechanism is found to be due to localized ethylene adsorption in the density minima arising from the layering of water in nanoconfinement. Despite these specific effects, the relatively weak coadsorption effects in the zeolite nanoporosity, which are found to be reasonably captured using the ideal adsorbed solution theory, arise from the fact that adsorption of these gases having different molecular sizes occurs in distinct pore regions (channel type, channel intersection). Finally, in contrast to confinement in the nanoporosity, mixture adsorption at the external surface does not show coadsorption effects as it mostly follows the Henry regime. These results show that selectivity is mostly governed by the confinement effects as the external surface leads to a selectivity loss.

Ethanol and Water Adsorption in Conventional and Hierarchical All-Silica MFI Zeolites

Hierarchical zeolites containing both micro- (<2 nm) and mesopores (2-50 nm) have gained increasing attention in recent years because they combine the intrinsic properties of conventional zeolites with enhanced mass transport rates due to the presence of mesopores. The structure of the hierarchical self-pillared pentasil (SPP) zeolite is of interest because all-silica SPP consists of orthogonally intergrown single-unit-cell MFI nanosheets and contains hydrophilic surface silanol groups on the mesopore surface while its micropores are nominally hydrophobic. Therefore, the distribution of adsorbed polar molecules, like water and ethanol, in the meso- and micropores is of fundamental interest. Here, molecular simulation and experiment are used to investigate the adsorption of water and ethanol on SPP. Vapor-phase single-component adsorption shows that water occupies preferentially the mesopore corner and surface regions of the SPP material at lower pressures (P/P ₀ < 0.5) while loading in the mesopore interior dominates adsorption at higher pressures. In contrast, ethanol does not exhibit a marked preference for micro- or mesopores at low pressures. Liquid-phase adsorption from binary water-ethanol mixtures demonstrates a 2 orders of magnitude lower ethanol/water selectivity for the SPP material compared to bulk MFI. For very dilute aqueous solutions of ethanol, the ethanol molecules are mostly adsorbed inside the SPP micropore region due to stronger dispersion interactions and the competition from water for the surface silanols. At high ethanol concentrations (C _EtOH > 700 g L^-1), the SPP material becomes selective for water over ethanol.

Hydronium ion and water complexes vs. methanol on solid catalyst surfaces: how confinement influences stability and reactivity

Nature and stability of adsorbed water species on typical solid catalysts are assigned and their stability against desorption is compared with methanol by using quantitative 1H MAS NMR spectroscopy.

Confinement and Surface Sites Control Methanol Adsorbate Stability on MFI Zeolites, SBA-15, and Silica-supported Heteropoly Acid

We herein investigate methanol adsorbates on a variety of heterogeneous catalysts. We quantitatively desorb methanol from saturated MFI zeolite, SBA-15 material and silicotungstic acid (STA) supported on silica, all in...

Absorption of mechanical energy via formation of ice nanotubes in zeolites

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out for a heterogeneous system composed of bulk water and pure-silica zeolites of the AFI type. My simulations show, for the first time, the spontaneous crystallization of water in hydrophobic zeolite channels by compression, while the water outside remains liquid. The formation of ice nanotubes results in a molecular bumper behavior in the absence of chemical reactions, although the mechanism has been explained by the appearance of silanol defects. In contrast, the same zeolite-water system exhibits a weak shock-absorber behavior at higher temperatures. My study shows that the phase transitions of confined water dramatically change its intrusion/extrusion behavior and alter the energetic performance by varying the temperature alone. The results offer a new perspective for a better design of hydrophobic nanoporous materials utilized with water.

Structural Characterization of Protonated Water Clusters Confined in HZSM-5 Zeolites

A molecular description of the structure and behavior of water confined in aluminosilicate zeolite pores is a crucial component for understanding zeolite acid chemistry under hydrous conditions. In this study, we use a combination of ultrafast two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) to study H₂O confined in the pores of highly hydrated zeolite HZSM-5 (∼13 and ∼6 equivalents of H₂O per Al atom). The 2D IR spectrum reveals correlations between the vibrations of both terminal and H-bonded O-H groups and the continuum absorption of the excess proton. These data are used to characterize the hydrogen-bonding network within the cluster by quantifying single-, double-, and non-hydrogen-bond donor water molecules. These results are found to be in good agreement with the statistics calculated from an AIMD simulation of an H⁺(H₂O)₈ cluster in HZSM-5. Furthermore, IR spectral assignments to local O-H environments are validated with DFT calculations on clusters drawn from AIMD simulations. The simulations reveal that the excess charge is detached from the zeolite and resides near the more highly coordinated water molecules in the cluster. When they are taken together, these results unambiguously assign the complex IR spectrum of highly hydrated HZSM-5, providing quantitative information on the molecular environments and hydrogen-bonding topology of protonated water clusters under extreme confinement.

In Silico Screening of Zeolites for High-Pressure Hydrogen Drying

According to the ISO 14687-2:2019 standard, the water content of H₂ fuel for transportation and stationary applications should not exceed 5 ppm (molar). To achieve this water content, zeolites can be used as a selective adsorbent for water. In this work, a computational screening study is carried out for the first time to identify potential zeolite frameworks for the drying of high-pressure H₂ gas using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. We show that the Si/Al ratio and adsorption selectivity have a negative correlation. 218 zeolites available in the database of the International Zeolite Association are considered in the screening. We computed the adsorption selectivity of each zeolite for water from the high-pressure H₂ gas having water content relevant to vehicular applications and near saturation. It is shown that due to the formation of water clusters, the water content in the H₂ gas has a significant effect on the selectivity of zeolites with a helium void fraction larger than 0.1. Under each operating condition, five most promising zeolites are identified based on the adsorption selectivity, the pore limiting diameter, and the volume of H₂ gas that can be dried by 1 dm³ of zeolite. It is shown that at 12.3 ppm (molar) water content, structures with helium void fractions smaller than 0.07 are preferred. The structures identified for 478 ppm (molar) water content have helium void fractions larger than 0.26. The proposed zeolites can be used to dry 400-8000 times their own volume of H₂ gas depending on the operating conditions. Our findings strongly indicate that zeolites are potential candidates for the drying of high-pressure H₂ gas.

Energetic Performance of Pure Silica Zeolites under High-Pressure Intrusion of LiCl Aqueous Solutions: An Overview

An overview of all the studies on high-pressure intrusion-extrusion of LiCl aqueous solutions in hydrophobic pure silica zeolites (zeosils) for absorption and storage of mechanical energy is presented. Operational principles of heterogeneous lyophobic systems and their possible applications in the domains of mechanical energy storage, absorption, and generation are described. The intrusion of LiCl aqueous solutions instead of water allows to considerably increase energetic performance of zeosil-based systems by a strong rise of intrusion pressure. The intrusion pressure increases with the salt concentration and depends considerably on zeosil framework. In the case of channel-type zeosils, it rises with the decrease of pore opening diameter, whereas for cage-type ones, no clear trend is observed. A relative increase of intrusion pressure in comparison with water is particularly strong for the zeosils with narrow pore openings. The use of highly concentrated LiCl aqueous solutions instead of water can lead to a change of system behavior. This effect seems to be related to a lower formation of silanol defects under intrusion of solvated ions and a weaker interaction of the ions with silanol groups of zeosil framework. The influence of zeosil nanostructure on LiCl aqueous solutions intrusion-extrusion is also discussed.

Mechanistic correlation between water infiltration and framework hydrophilicity in MFI zeolites

Hydrophobic zeolites are nanoporous materials that are attracting an increasing interest, especially for catalysis, desalination, energy storage and biomedical applications. Nevertheless, a more profound understanding and control of water infiltration in their nanopores is still desirable to rationally design zeolite-based materials with tailored properties. In this work, both atomistic simulations and previous experimental data are employed to investigate water infiltration in hydrophobic MFI zeolites with different concentration of hydrophilic defects. Results show that limited concentrations of defects (e.g. 1%) induce a change in the shape of infiltration isotherms (from type-V to type-I), which denotes a sharp passage from typical hydrophobic to hydrophilic behavior. A correlation parametrized on both energy and geometric characteristics of the zeolite (infiltration model) is then adopted to interpolate the infiltration isotherms data by means of a limited number of physically-meaningful parameters. Finally, the infiltration model is combined with the water-zeolite interaction energy computed by simulations to correlate the water intrusion mechanism with the atomistic details of the zeolite crystal, such as defects concentration, distribution and hydrophilicity. The suggested methodology may allow a faster (more than one order of magnitude) and more systematic preliminary computational screening of innovative zeolite-based materials for energy storage, desalination and biomedical purposes.

A priori predictions of type I and type V isotherms by the rigid adsorbent lattice fluid

Adsorbents exhibiting non type I adsorption behaviour are becoming increasingly more important in industrial applications, such as drying and gas separation. The ability to model these processes is essential in process optimisation and intensification, but requires an accurate description of the adsorption isotherms under a range of conditions. Here we describe how the Rigid Adsorbent Lattice Fluid is capable of a priori predictions both type I and type V adsorption behaviour in silicalite-1. The predictions are consistent with experimental observations for aliphatic (type I) and polar (type V) molecules in this hydrophobic material. Type V behaviour is related to molecular clustering and the paper discusses the model parameters governing the presence/absence of this behaviour in the predicted isotherms. It is found that both the solid porosity and the adsorbate interaction energy/energy density are deciding factors for the isotherm shape. Importantly, the model, whilst thermodynamically consistent, is macroscopic and thus computationally light and requires only a small number of physically meaningful parameters.

Operando Dual Beam FTIR Study of Hydroxyl Groups and Zn Species over Defective HZSM-5 Zeolite Supported Zinc Catalysts

A series of defective ZSM-5 zeolites (~300 nm, SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 55, 100, 480 and 950) were systematically studied by XRD, SEM, 29Si MAS NMR, argon physisorption, NH3-TPD and FT-IR technologies. The nature, the amount and the accessibility of the acid sites of defective ZSM-5 zeolites are greatly different from reported ZSM-5 zeolites with a perfect crystal structure. The Brønsted acid sites (Si(OH)Al) with strong acid strength and the Brønsted acid sites (hydroxyl nests) with weak acid strength co-existed over defective ZSM-5 zeolites, which leads to a unique catalytic function. Zn(C2H5)2 was grafted onto defective ZSM-5 zeolites through the chemical liquid deposition (CLD) method. Interestingly, FT-IR spectroscopic studies found that Zn(C2H5)2 was preferentially grafted on the hydroxyl nests with weak acid strength rather than the Si(OH)Al groups with strong acid strength over different defective ZSM-5 zeolites. In particular, home-built operando dual beam FTIR-MS was applied to study the catalytic performance of Zn species located in different sites of defective ZSM-5 zeolites under real n-hexane transformation conditions. Results show that Zn species grafted over hydroxyl nests obtain better dehydrogenative aromatization performance than Zn species over Si(OH)Al groups. This study provides guidance for the rational design of highly efficient alkane dehydrogenative aromatization catalysts.

Vapor- and Liquid-Phase Adsorption of Alcohol and Water in Silicalite-1 Synthesized in Fluoride Media

In this work, batch-adsorption experiments and molecular simulations are employed to probe the adsorption of binary mixtures containing ethanol or a linear alkane-1,n-diol solvated in water or ethanol onto silicate-1. Since the batch-adsorption experiments require an additional relationship to determine the amount of solute (and solvent adsorbed, as only the bulk liquid reservoir can be probed directly, molecular simulations are used to provide a relationship between solute and solvent adsorption for input to the experimental bulk measurements. The combination of bulk experimental measurements and simulated solute-solvent relationship yields solvent and solute loadings that are self-consistent with simulation alone, and allow for an assessment of the various assumptions made in literature. At low solution concentrations, the solute loading calculated is independent of the assumption made. At high concentrations, a negligent choice of assumption can lead to systematic overestimation or underestimation of calculated solute loading.

Study of Short-Chain Alcohol and Alcohol-Water Adsorption in MEL and MFI Zeolites

In this paper, we present a comparative study of the adsorption behavior of short chain alcohols (pure and in aqueous solution) into silicalite-1 (MFI-type zeolite) and silicalite-2 (MEL-type zeolite). For quite some time, silicalite-1 has been the reference material to address the problem of adsorptive-based separation, mostly for hydrocarbon mixtures. Interestingly, being structurally close to silicalite-1, adsorption studies using silicalite-2 are scarce and to the best of our knowledge, a comparative study of their behavior for alcohol-water mixtures has not been published to date. We have here resorted to molecular simulation techniques to analyze the adsorption and diffusion phenomena in both zeolites at 25 and 50 °C for pure methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol, and water, and for some relevant compositions of alcohol/water mixtures. In addition to the dilute regime in the mixture, our study ranges from intermediate alcohol concentrations to alcohol-rich phases, relevant to alcohol purification processes. Besides, we have performed volumetric and calorimetric measurements of single-component adsorption of alcohols in pure silica MEL zeolite, which were used to validate the model potentials used in the simulations. We observe that the zigzag channels of MFI zeolite are most likely responsible for its somewhat higher affinity for alcohols. This leads to higher adsorption selectivities when compared to those of MEL zeolite. We have also found that the choice of water model strongly conditions water coadsorption into the zeolites and subsequently the predictions of the adsorbent's selectivity in alcohol/water systems. Despite considerable differences for adsorbed pure components, diffusivities of alcohol and water adsorbed from mixtures are relatively similar, as a consequence of the strong hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups and water.

Surface microstructure engenders unusual hydrophobicity in phyllosilicates

We present a mechanism of intriguing polar hydrophobicity of a series of naturally formed minerals: their surface cavities can effectively trap water molecules, and the water trapping remarkably disrupts the hydrogen bond interaction among interfacial water and leads to considerable hydrophobicity. Diminishing water trapping by decreasing surface roughness can considerably enhance wettability, which illustrates that a Wenzel model is no longer valid for polar materials with atomic-scale roughness.

Enhanced water transport and salt rejection through hydrophobic zeolite pores

The potential of improvements to reverse osmosis (RO) desalination by incorporating porous nanostructured materials such as zeolites into the selective layer in the membrane has spurred substantial research efforts over the past decade. However, because of the lack of methods to probe transport across these materials, it is still unclear which pore size or internal surface chemistry is optimal for maximizing permeability and salt rejection. We developed a platform to measure the transport of water and salt across a single layer of zeolite crystals, elucidating the effects of internal wettability on water and salt transport through the ≈5.5 Å pores of MFI zeolites. MFI zeolites with a more hydrophobic (i.e., less attractive) internal surface chemistry facilitated an approximately order of magnitude increase in water permeability compared to more hydrophilic MFI zeolites, while simultaneously fully rejecting both potassium and chlorine ions. However, our results also demonstrated approximately two orders of magnitude lower permeability compared to molecular simulations. This decreased performance suggests that additional transport resistances (such as surface barriers, pore collapse or blockages due to contamination) may be limiting the performance of experimental nanostructured membranes. Nevertheless, the inclusion of hydrophobic sub-nanometer pores into the active layer of RO membranes should improve both the water permeability and salt rejection of future RO membranes (Fasano et al 2016 Nat. Commun. 7 12762).

Forced intrusion of water and aqueous solutions in microporous materials: from fundamental thermodynamics to energy storage devices

We review the high pressure forced intrusion studies of water in hydrophobic microporous materials such as zeolites and MOFs, a field of research that has emerged some 15 years ago and is now very active. Many of these studies are aimed at investigating the possibility of using these systems as energy storage devices. A series of all-silica zeolites (zeosil) frameworks were found suitable for reversible energy storage because of their stability with respect to hydrolysis after several water intrusion-extrusion cycles. Several microporous hydrophobic zeolite imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) also happen to be quite stable and resistant towards hydrolysis and thus seem very promising for energy storage applications. Replacing pure water by electrolyte aqueous solutions enables to increase the stored energy by a factor close to 3, on account of the high pressure shift of the intrusion transition. In addition to the fact that aqueous solutions and microporous silica materials are environmental friendly, these systems are thus becoming increasingly interesting for the design of new energy storage devices. This review also addresses the theoretical approaches and molecular simulations performed in order to better understand the experimental behavior of nano-confined water. Molecular simulation studies showed that water condensation takes place through a genuine first-order phase transition, provided that the interconnected pores structure is 3-dimensional and sufficiently open. In an extreme confinement situations such as in ferrierite zeosil, condensation seem to take place through a continuous supercritical crossing from a diluted to a dense fluid, on account of the fact that the first-order transition line is shifted to higher pressure, and the confined water critical point is correlatively shifted to lower temperature. These molecular simulation studies suggest that the most important features of the intrusion/extrusion process can be understood in terms of equilibrium thermodynamics considerations.

Comparative Study of the Effect of Defects on Selective Adsorption of Butanol from Butanol/Water Binary Vapor Mixtures in Silicalite-1 Films

A promising route for sustainable 1-butanol (butanol) production is ABE (acetone, butanol, ethanol) fermentation. However, recovery of the products is challenging because of the low concentrations obtained in the aqueous solution, thus hampering large-scale production of biobutanol. Membrane and adsorbent-based technologies using hydrophobic zeolites are interesting alternatives to traditional separation techniques (e.g., distillation) for energy-efficient separation of butanol from aqueous mixtures. To maximize the butanol over water selectivity of the material, it is important to reduce the number of hydrophilic adsorption sites. This can, for instance, be achieved by reducing the density of lattice defect sites where polar silanol groups are found. The density of silanol defects can be reduced by preparing the zeolite at neutral pH instead of using traditional synthesis solutions with high pH. In this work, binary adsorption of butanol and water in two silicalite-1 films was studied using in situ attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy under equal experimental conditions. One of the films was prepared in fluoride medium, whereas the other one was prepared at high pH using traditional synthesis conditions. The amounts of water and butanol adsorbed from binary vapor mixtures of varying composition were determined at 35 and 50 °C, and the corresponding adsorption selectivities were also obtained. Both samples showed very high selectivities (100-23 000) toward butanol under the conditions studied. The sample having low density of defects, in general, showed ca. a factor 10 times higher butanol selectivity than the sample having a higher density of defects at the same experimental conditions. This difference was due to a much lower adsorption of water in the sample with low density of internal defects. Analysis of molecular simulation trajectories provides insights on the local selectivities in the zeolite channel network and at the film surface.

Intensified Biobutanol Recovery by using Zeolites with Complementary Selectivity

A vapor-phase adsorptive recovery process is proposed as an alternative way to isolate biobutanol from acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation media, offering several advantages compared to liquid phase separation. The effect of water, which is still present in large quantities in the vapor phase, on the adsorption of the organics could be minimized by using hydrophobic zeolites. Shape-selective all-silica zeolites CHA and LTA were prepared and evaluated with single-component isotherms and breakthrough experiments. These zeolites show opposite selectivities; adsorption of ethanol is favorable on all-silica CHA, whereas the LTA topology has a clear preference for butanol. The molecular sieving properties of both zeolites allow easy elimination of acetone from the mixture. The molecular interaction mechanisms are studied by density functional theory (DFT) simulations. The effects of mixture composition, humidity and total pressure of the vapor stream on the selectivity and separation behavior are investigated. Desorption profiles are studied to maximize butanol purity and recovery. The combination of LTA with CHA-type zeolites (Si-CHA or SAPO-34) in sequential adsorption columns with alternating adsorption and desorption steps allows butanol to be recovered in unpreceded purity and yield. A butanol purity of 99.7 mol % could be obtained at nearly complete butanol recovery, demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique for biobutanol separation processes.

A molecular dynamics study of the interaction of water with the external surface of silicalite-1

The modeling study of the interaction of water with the external surface of silicalite-1 reveals retention of H₂O molecules at the interface because of the formation of a structured water layer.

Influence of LiCl aqueous solution concentration on the energetic performances of pure silica chabazite

Stored energy is increased by a factor of 5.5 for the “Si-CHA–20 M aqueous LiCl” system compared to the “Si-CHA–water” system.

Controlling the Cross-Sensitivity of Carbon Nanotube-Based Gas Sensors to Water Using Zeolites

Carbon nanotube-based gas sensors can be used to detect harmful environmental pollutants such as NO₂ at room temperature. Although they show promise as low-powered, sensitive, and affordable monitoring devices, cross-sensitivity of functionalized carbon nanotubes to water vapor often obscures the detection of target molecules. This is a barrier to adoption for monitoring of airborne pollutants because of the varying humidity levels found in real world environments. Zeolites, also known as molecular sieves because of their selective adsorption properties, are used in this work to control the cross-sensitivity of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based sensors to water vapor. Zeolites incorporated into the sensing layer are found to reduce interference effects that would otherwise obscure the identification of NO₂ gas, permitting repeatable detection over a range of relative humidities. This significant improvement is found to depend on the arrangement of the SWCNT-zeolite layers in the sensing device, as well as the hydrophilicity of the chosen zeolite.

Interplay between hydrophilicity and surface barriers on water transport in zeolite membranes

A comprehensive understanding of molecular transport within nanoporous materials remains elusive in a broad variety of engineering and biomedical applications. Here, experiments and atomistic simulations are synergically used to elucidate the non-trivial interplay between nanopore hydrophilicity and surface barriers on the overall water transport through zeolite crystals. At these nanometre-length scales, these results highlight the dominating effect of surface imperfections with reduced permeability on the overall water transport. A simple diffusion resistance model is shown to be sufficient to capture the effects of both intracrystalline and surface diffusion resistances, thus properly linking simulation to experimental evidence. This work suggests that future experimental work should focus on eliminating/overcoming these surface imperfections, which promise an order of magnitude improvement in permeability.

Zeolite crystal with porous structure is predicted to be a good membrane material for water purification, but experiments show water uptake orders of magnitude smaller than the theory. Here, Fasano et al. attribute this disagreement to the additional diffusion resistance induced by surface defects.

Defect-induced ripening of zeolitic-imidazolate framework ZIF-8 and its implication to vapor-phase membrane synthesis

We report for the first time that ZIF-8 crystals undergo an Ostwald-ripening-like process without degradation in the presence of a ligand vapor.