PNNL

Abstract

Designing zeolites with tunable physicochemical properties can substantially impact their performance in commercial applications such as adsorption, separations, catalysis, and drug delivery. Zeolite synthesis typically requires an organic structure-directing agent to obtain crystals with specific pore topology. Attempts to remove organics from syntheses to achieve commercially-viable methods of preparing zeolites often lead to the formation of impurities. Here, we present organic-free syntheses of two polymorphs of the small-pore zeolite P (GIS), P1 and P2. Using a combination of adsorption measurements and density functional theory calculations, we show that GIS polymorphs are selective adsorbents for H2O relative to other light gases (e.g., H2, N2, CO2).