AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Surface Science Division Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS+HC-TuM

Paper SS+HC-TuM12
Atomic View of Acid Zeolite Chemistry: Surface Chemistry Studies on 2D Silicate Materials

Tuesday, October 31, 2017, 11:40 am, Room 25

Session: Controlling Mechanisms of Surface Chemical Reactions
Presenter: Jin-Hao Jhang, Yale University
Authors: J.-H. Jhang, Yale University
G.S. Hutchings, Yale University
C. Zhou, Yale University
U.D. Schwarz, Yale University
E.I. Altman, Yale University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Although zeolites have been used in facilitating numerous catalytic reactions for decades, it is still a long-term challenge to understand how surface properties of zeolites promote catalytic reactions. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) silicate materials were discovered and prepared successfully on different substrates, including transition metals and alloy. This achievement makes surface science approaches possible for understanding zeolite chemistry from an atomic view. In this work, we seek to establish that 2D silicates are capable of promoting acid catalyzed reactions in a manner analogous to 3D zeolites. The 2D silicates were prepared on a Pd(111) substrate via physical vapor deposition (PVD) at room temperature followed by annealing at 1000 K in an oxygen background. The probe molecule 2-propylamine reacts through a deammination process and produces propene on the 2D aluminosilicate indicating the existence of acid sites capable of catalysis. In contrast, no propene or other products were detected on the 2D silica surface. We also generated atomic deuterium (D) on both silica and aluminosilicate by a D2-plasma treatment and a D2-recombination feature at 540 K assigned to the decomposition of surface OD groups was only observed from the aluminosilicate sample. These findings show the similarity between the 2D aluminosilicate and the acid zeolites which allows us to consider the 2D material as a zeolite model to explore zeolite chemistry.