Synthesis of novel micro- and mesoporous zeolite nanostructures using electrospinning techniques

Abstract

Micro- and mesoporous nanostructured zeolites are fabricated for rapidly responding, selective detection of individual gases in a multigas environment. These nanostructures are synthesized by an electrospinning technique wherein the process parameters are varied through a design of experiment (DoE) methodology. Various morphologies, namely, high aspect ratio nanofibers, nanoparticles, and mixed microstructures, were obtained at different DoE variable settings. The zeolites of interest in this paper are silica and silicalite, wherein the aluminum content is zero. In the case of mesoporous silica, the sol-gel solution consisting of the silica source and the structure-directing agent is directly electrospun to obtain the nanostructured material on a device substrate. The structure-directing agent is later removed by calcination to obtain the porous nanostructures. In the case of microporous silica, the nanostructured silica is first synthesized and then co-electrospun with a polymer to obtain the desired nanostructure. The structure-directing agent and polymer are later removed by calcination.