(527d) Investigation of Zeolite Mordenite as a Template for the Formation of Nanowires

The use of templates has demonstrated to be a cost effective reliable method for the formation of uniform structures. Membranes of macropore (larger than 50 nm) and mesopore (between 2 and 50 nm) dimensions have been successfully used for the formation of metallic nanowires. However there is little evidence in the literature of studies using templates of micropore dimensions for the formation of nanowires. Here we will present work done using zeolites as templates for the formation of transition metal nanowires. Zeolites are crystalline aluminosilicate materials that possess 1D, 2D and 3D pore structures that range in sizes from 0.4 nm to 1.3 nm, thus its use as templates have the potential of yielding the smallest uniform nanostructures available through a bottom up method. Our group has studied this system using both computational and experimental methods. Computationally the effect of zeolite structure, zeolite composition, metal loading, and temperature has been studied on the formation of nanowires using Monte Carlo simulations and we have identified zeolites with optimal structures for the growth of nanowires. Experimentally we have used zeolite mordenite which is a zeolite with a unidimensional pore structure, as template to study the formation of Pt nanowires. Various reduction methods have been studied and the materials have been characterized using XRD, FTIR, and HRTEM. Thus far our group has been successful synthesizing polycrystalline Pt nanowires of 2nm in diameter, Pt nanoflowers, and single crystal Pt nanowires.