Zeolites are microporous framework silicates that are used widely in the chemical industry as heterogeneous acid catalysts, efficient ion exchangers, selective adsorbents for gas separations and as perm-selective dehydration membranes. They are also useful in other applications like water softening, as desiccants, and for adsorptive/catalytic treatment of automotive emissions. Zeolites have a wide range of compositions, and Dr. Tsapatsis’ will focus his talk on pure silica zeolites (zeosils) and high silica zeolites, i.e., zeolites with large ratio of silicon to substituents like Al, B, Ge, Sn, Ti that isomorphously replace silicon in the tetrahedral sites of the zeolite framework.

Michael Tsapatsis’ research group and collaborators have devoted more than two decades to study zeolite nucleation and crystal growth in efforts to create (i) nanometer-thin, oriented, and pinhole-free separation membranes, and (ii) hierarchical porous adsorbents and catalysts.

The Summer Seminar Series is co-sponsored by PS-OC and the Institute for NanoBioTechnology.