The EAS dataset and patents and papers are hugely beyond the state of the art, as recognized by the reviewers of the first paper. EAS proof of concepts and first milestones are published (and filed IP) and furthermore, translating the concept to Sn-BEA has been done (submitted).
It is truly beyond the art that now by having in mind a final heteroatom property of a zeolite, we can create the desired material by EAS by simply varying parameters of the electric supply, and, therefore, have a control over metal release from the electrode. For instance, the speed of dissolution, which is, in our experience, in charge of the heteroatom concentration profile inside the EAS reactor, can be alternated by voltage, current, signal waveform and/or timing of the release. This novel approach led to 3 patent applications and 1 published high-impact paper (Ivanushkin, Dusselier: Chemistry of Materials, 2023) and is now the basis for explorations in Sn-BEA, Ti and Zn (ongoing) and all beyond the art.
Two of these are industrially/application relevant topics: Sn-BEA is a catalyst for various bio-mass valorization reactions (e.g. sugar isomerization) and we have already demonstrated successful synthesis attempts, reaching record Si/Sn 14. The next phase beyond the art will be Ti by EAS, as Ti also has an applicational aspect since the materials are utilized in oxidation reactions using peroxides (e.g. Ti-MFI). The incorporation of titanium in the framework creates active sites, which mimic the activity of certain oxidation enzymes. Zeolites are perfectly suitable for working as heterogeneous catalysts in more harsh environments, which bring added value to these materials. From our side, we expect to have a better distribution and incorporation of the metal managed by EAS, and, therefore, increase efficiency and control over the zeolite’s manufacturing process and test their catalytic productivity.
The EKC part of the project will be continued with an upgrade of the existing set-up since we discovered that much higher voltages are required for the investigation of bulk effects on a zeolite synthesis. With this in mind, we are currently upgrading our synthesis cell and voltage generator, so the new system will be able to handle 20 kV of direct voltage (maximum current 0.6 mA) likely enabling the creation of uniform electric fields up to mega-V/m.
In the Fed-Batch part, mode 6 will be continued to look for new topologies or ways to steer between existing topologies via charge density approaches with two types of organic templates. ‘Competition or cooperation?’ of these organics will be the research question at the heart. Another part of the research will be on mode 5 that targets topologies for Si/Al optimization.
