Contents S1. Synthesis and Initial Characterisation S2. Crystallographic details of the refined hydrated Na-, (K-and K, Hand nd Cs-MER S3. Structural response to dehydration S4. Adsorption studies S5. In situ laboratory PXRD of M-MER with adsorbed CO2 S6. Crystallographic details of the refined dehydrated solids with adsorbed CO2 S7. CO2/CH4 separation and breakthrough curves S8. Kinetic measurements using the Zero Length Column technique S9. K,H-MER zeolite structural and adsorption results S2 S1. Synthesis and Initial Characterisation Synthesis Colloidal silica, Ludox HS-40 (12.5 g; 40%, suspension in water; Sigma-Aldrich) was added to 35% aqueous solution of tetraethylammonium hydroxide (3.15 g; 35% TEOAH, Sigma-Aldrich) and the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h. To this mixture, a solution made by dissolving metal Al (0.8 g, 99%, Alfa Aesar) in 3 g TEAOH and KOH (0.6 g, 85%, Fisher Chemicals), which was also mixed for 1 h, was added. The gel formed was continuously stirred for 10 min, transferred to a PTFE-lined stainless-steel autoclave and hydrothermally treated at 423 K under slow rotation (60 rpm). The resultant solid product, collected after 96 h, was

Tighter CO2 emission standards from mobile sources are being legislated globally in order to address the concerns regarding anthropogenic climate change. Hence, automotive manufacturers have developed a variety of new propulsion systems, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and even fuel cell electric vehicles.[1] However, there is a general consensus that internal combustion engines will continue to dominate the market for the foreseeable future. [1,2] As such, fuel-efficient combustion technologies like diesel engines offer superior green-house gas reduction potential. One technical obstacle to broader diesel implementation is the required lean NOx aftertreatment system, especially to meet upcoming strict emission regulations. NOx is extremely difficult to reduce under an oxygen-rich environment.[3] Although its selective catalytic reduction by urea (urea-SCR) has recently been commercialized, the operation window of this technology is severely limited by the decomposition temperature (~ 200 °C) of urea into NH3 and by SCR catalyst deactivation at temperatures higher than 750 °C.[4]This prohibits closer placement of the catalyst to the engine, requiring an aggressive warm-up with extra fuel burning during the cold-start. Furthermore, when integrating a mandatory particulate filter in the modern diesel aftertreatment system to mitigate soot and ash, the frequent regeneration of diesel particulate filters is required before a certain accumulation of soot, resulting in large temperature spikes. Improvement of the thermal durability of the SCR catalysts would, therefore, be the key to maximizing the fuel efficiency, as well as to producing clean emissions from diesel engines. Metal-exchanged zeolites have drawn much attention as diesel vehicle SCR catalysts, and with copper-exchanged ZSM-5 and SSZ-13, which are medium-and small-pore zeolites with MFI and CHA topologies, respectively, [5] have been most widely studied for this reaction.[4] Cu-SSZ-13 has recently been implemented as the current standard catalyst in the mobile SCR technology because of its superior thermal durability compared to already known catalysts. When aged at 850 °C, however, even this catalyst, whose fresh form achieves greater than 90% NOx conversion at 250 -400 °C in steady state, loses its CHA structure and forms copper oxide (CuOx) species, leading to severe activity loss. [6] Although zeolite A (framework type LTA) is the first synthetic zeolite to be prepared, [7] its catalytic applications have long been severely restricted due to its poor thermal stability originating from the high framework Al content (Si/Al = 1.0). However, a recent success in the benzylimidazolium-mediated synthesis of its unprecedented high-silica (Si/Al > 8) form provides a key advantage in terms of structural stability with tunable loading of catalytically-active metal centers.[8] Here we report that when the copper ion exchange level increases to 100% (Cu/Al = 0.50), the high-silica (Si/Al = 16-23) Cu-LTA catalysts hydrothermally aged at 900 °C, i.e., t...

Tighter CO2 emission standards from mobile sources are being legislated globally in order to address the concerns regarding anthropogenic climate change. Hence, automotive manufacturers have developed a variety of new propulsion systems, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and even fuel cell electric vehicles.[1] However, there is a general consensus that internal combustion engines will continue to dominate the market for the foreseeable future. [1,2] As such, fuel-efficient combustion technologies like diesel engines offer superior green-house gas reduction potential. One technical obstacle to broader diesel implementation is the required lean NOx aftertreatment system, especially to meet upcoming strict emission regulations. NOx is extremely difficult to reduce under an oxygen-rich environment.[3] Although its selective catalytic reduction by urea (urea-SCR) has recently been commercialized, the operation window of this technology is severely limited by the decomposition temperature (~ 200 °C) of urea into NH3 and by SCR catalyst deactivation at temperatures higher than 750 °C.[4]This prohibits closer placement of the catalyst to the engine, requiring an aggressive warm-up with extra fuel burning during the cold-start. Furthermore, when integrating a mandatory particulate filter in the modern diesel aftertreatment system to mitigate soot and ash, the frequent regeneration of diesel particulate filters is required before a certain accumulation of soot, resulting in large temperature spikes. Improvement of the thermal durability of the SCR catalysts would, therefore, be the key to maximizing the fuel efficiency, as well as to producing clean emissions from diesel engines. Metal-exchanged zeolites have drawn much attention as diesel vehicle SCR catalysts, and with copper-exchanged ZSM-5 and SSZ-13, which are medium-and small-pore zeolites with MFI and CHA topologies, respectively, [5] have been most widely studied for this reaction.[4] Cu-SSZ-13 has recently been implemented as the current standard catalyst in the mobile SCR technology because of its superior thermal durability compared to already known catalysts. When aged at 850 °C, however, even this catalyst, whose fresh form achieves greater than 90% NOx conversion at 250 -400 °C in steady state, loses its CHA structure and forms copper oxide (CuOx) species, leading to severe activity loss. [6] Although zeolite A (framework type LTA) is the first synthetic zeolite to be prepared, [7] its catalytic applications have long been severely restricted due to its poor thermal stability originating from the high framework Al content (Si/Al = 1.0). However, a recent success in the benzylimidazolium-mediated synthesis of its unprecedented high-silica (Si/Al > 8) form provides a key advantage in terms of structural stability with tunable loading of catalytically-active metal centers.[8] Here we report that when the copper ion exchange level increases to 100% (Cu/Al = 0.50), the high-silica (Si/Al = 16-23) Cu-LTA catalysts hydrothermally aged at 900 °C, i.e., t...

The lithium-exchanged form of a merlinoite zeolite (MER) with Si/Al = 4.2 (unit cell composition Li6.2Al6.2Si25.8O64) possesses a strongly contracted framework when dehydrated (the unit cell volume decreases by 12.9% from the hydrated 'wide-pore' form to the dehydrated 'narrow-pore' form). It shows cooperative adsorption behaviour for CO2, leading to two-step isotherms with the second step at elevated pressure (>2.5 bar at 298 K). Partially exchanging Na and K cations to give single phase Li,Na-and Li,K-MER materials reduces the pressure of this second adsorption step because the transition from narrow-to wide-pore forms upon CO2 adsorption occurs at lower partial pressures compared to that in Li-MER: partial exchange with Cs does not reduce the pressure of this transition. Exsolution effects are also seen at K cation contents >2.2 per unit cell. The phase transitions proceed via intermediate structures, by complex phase behaviour rarely seen for zeolitic materials. The strongly distorted narrow-pore structures adopted upon dehydration give one dimensional channel structures in which the 2 percolation of CO2 through the material requires cation migration from their locations in ste sites. This is slow in Li3.4Cs2.8-MER where Cs cations occupy these critical ste cavities in the channels, causing very slow adsorption kinetics. As the partial pressure of CO2 increases, a threshold pressure is reached where cooperative adsorption and Cs cation migration occur and the wide-pore form results, with a three dimensionally connected pore system, leading to a sharp increase in uptake. This is far in excess of the increase of unit cell volume because more of the pore space becomes accessible. Strong hysteretic effects occur upon desorption, leading to CO2 encapsulation. CO2 remaining within the material after repeated adsorption/desorption cycles without heated activation improves sorption kinetics and modifies the stepped isotherms.

In this study we show how non-trivial equilibrium and kinetic adsorption behaviour in a flexible zeolite can be understood through a combination of experimental characterisation and modelling. Flexible zeolites, such as those in the RHO-family, can exhibit unusual stepped isotherms in the presence of CO 2 , but their structural complexity makes it hard to attribute a clear mechanism. Here we present a structural and kinetic study on (Na,TEA)-ZSM-25, an extended member of the RHOfamily, and show that by combining diffraction data, lattice fluid modelling and dynamic column experiments, we obtain a plausible mechanism for CO 2 adsorption and transport in this material. It is evident that by using any single technique, the behaviour is too complex to be readily understood. This is to our knowledge the first study to measure and model the changing kinetics due to adsorption induced framework flexibility.