College of Science & Engineering
Twin Cities
Zeolites are porous silicate materials with pore sizes similar to industrially important molecules (water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, etc.). Zeolites are used in gas separation (due to their sieving effect), catalysis (due to their shape selectivity), adsorption, and other applications. In the Tsapatsis group, zeolite nanoparticles with lamellar morphologies (zeolite nanosheets) are developed for gas separation and catalysis. They have also published the use of 2D zeolites to form the thinnest zeolite films ever reported on porous and non porous supports. Because of the thin dimension of the nanosheets, the zeolite nanosheets give higher flux for gas separation applications, and enhance diffusion in catalysis.
Current research is focused on:
- Monte Carlo simulations probing the adsorptive separtion of α-ω diols using zeolites
- Adsorption and diffusion measurements in zeolites
- Imaging single Sn atoms in zeolite frameworks using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy
Research from this group was featured on the MSI website in June 2017: A New Process to Create Zeolite Nanosheets and December 2016: Sweetening Natural Gas.