Characterization of acidity in ZSM-5 zeolites: an x-ray photoelectron and IR spectroscopy study

Abstract

An x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) method is proposed for the identification and quantitation of Broensted and Lewis acid sites in ZSM-5 zeolites. The method consists of deconvoluting the N{sub 1s}XPS level of chemisorbed pyridine and measuring the relative intensities of the peak components. It was found that pyridine is chemisorbed in three different states on ZSM-5 zeolites corresponding to N{sub 1s} binding energy of 398.7, 400.0, and 401.8 eV, respectively. The first peak at 398.7 eV was assigned to N{sub 1s} level of pyridine adsorbed on Lewis sites, while the second and third were assigned to N{sub 1s} levels of pyridine adsorbed on relatively weak and strong Broensted acid sites, respectively. Comparison of the concentrations of the various acid sites as determined from the relative intensities of the N{sub 1s} components with IR spectroscopic data showed that XPS has potential applications in the identification and the quantitative determination of Broensted and Lewis acid sites in zeolites.