Synthesis and Structural Analysis of High-Silica ERI Zeolite with Spatially-Biased Al Distribution as a Promising NH3-SCR Catalyst

Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Apr;11(14):e2307674. doi: 10.1002/advs.202307674. Epub 2024 Feb 2.

Abstract

Erionite (ERI) zeolite has recently attracted considerable attention for its application prospect in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3-SCR), provided that the high-silica (Si/Al > 5.5) analog with improved hydrothermal stability can be facilely synthesized. In this work, ERI zeolites with different Si/Al ratios (4.6, 6.4, and 9.1) are synthesized through an ultrafast route, and in particular, a high-silica ERI zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 9.1 is obtained by using faujasite (FAU) as a starting material. The solid-state 29Si MAS NMR spectroscopic study in combination with a computational simulation allows for figuring out the atomic configurations of the Al species in the three ERI zeolites. It is revealed that the ERI zeolite with the highest Si/Al ratio (ERI-9.1, where the number indicates the Si/Al ratio) exhibits a biased Al occupancy at T1 site, which is possibly due to the presence of a higher fraction of the residual potassium cations in the can cages. In contrast, the Al siting in ERI-4.6 and ERI-6.4 proves to be relatively random.

Keywords: NH3‐SCR catalyst; NMR spectroscopy; density functional calculations; high‐silica ERI zeolite; spatially‐biased Al distribution.