Solving the zeolite conundrum Seminar

Zeolites are extremely important materials in many different applications, from catalysis in oil refining and automobile exhaust transformations, all the way through to ion exchange and medicine. Zeolites are defined as porous solids comprising tetrahedral building units, and their structural architecture plays an important part in their industrial utility. Several researchers, using computational techniques, have predicted that there are more than 2 million different ways to link tetrahedral units together to form zeolite structures. However, we have only ever managed to make about 200 different structures, which means our synthesis success rate is about 0.01%! This is the zeolite conundrum. Why are we so poor at making zeolites?

In this presentation attempts will be made to answer this question by thinking about the limitations of traditional synthesis approaches and provide strategies by which such limitations will be overcome. The ADOR (Assembly-disassembly-organisation-reassembly) mechanism of synthesis will be introduced as a way by which 'unfeasible' zeolites can be prepared as a way to solve the zeolite conundrum.

Professor Morris received the RSC Materials Chemistry Division, Peter Day award for his pioneering work on the chemistry of porous solids, especially his discovery of the Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reorganisation route to zeolite synthesis