Nanoporous Composites as Bifunctional Catalysts

Title of Document: SYNTHESIS OF ZEOLITE@MOF NANOPOROUS COMPOSITES AS BIFUNCTIONAL CATALYSTS Guanghui Zhu, Master of Science, 2014 Directed By: Professor, Dr. Dongxia Liu, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering And Professor, Dr. Kyu Yong Choi, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering As nanoporous materials, zeolite and metal organic framework (MOF) share common characteristics of high surface areas and uniform micropores and differ in thermal/mechanical stability and structural flexibility. The integration of MOF and zeolite into composite particles is expected to produce useful hybrid nanoporous materials where inorganic zeolite and organic MOF components impart the advantages of high thermal, mechanical and structural stability of zeolites and specific functionality and high flexibility of MOFs. This thesis work addresses the synthesis of zeolite@MOF composites and the exploration of their applications as bifunctional catalysts in one-pot cascade reaction. Zeolite@MOF core-shell composites have been synthesized by solvothermal growth of MOFs on the surface of ZSM-5 particles. The acidity from framework Al-O(H)-Si sites in ZSM-5 and basicity from amine groups in MOFs obtained by pre-/post-synthetic modification endow zeolite@MOF composites bifunctionality in two-step cascade catalytic reactions.