Recent progress in the synthesis and applications of zeolitic imidazolate framework materials is presented in this review.

We report the synthesis of zeolite-like carbon materials that exhibit well-resolved powder XRD patterns and very high surface area. The zeolite-like carbons are prepared via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 800 or 850 degrees C using zeolite beta as solid template and acetonitrile as carbon precursor. The zeolite-like structural ordering of the carbon materials is indicated by powder XRD patterns with at least two well-resolved diffraction peaks and TEM images that reveal well-ordered micropore channels. The carbons possess surface area of up to 3200 m2/g and pore volume of up to 2.41 cm3/g. A significant proportion of the porosity in the carbons (up to 76% and 56% for surface area and pore volume, respectively) is from micropores. Both TEM and nitrogen sorption data indicate that porosity is dominated by pores of size 0.6-0.8 nm. The carbon materials exhibit enhanced (and reversible) hydrogen storage capacity, with measured uptake of up to 6.9 wt % and estimated maximum of 8.33 wt % at -196 degrees C and 20 bar. At 1 bar, hydrogen uptake capacity as high as 2.6 wt % is achieved. Isosteric heat of adsorption of 8.2 kJ/mol indicates a favorable interaction between hydrogen and the surface of the carbons. The hydrogen uptake capacity observed for the zeolite-like carbon materials is among the highest ever reported for carbon (activated carbon, mesoporous carbon, CNTs) or any other (MOFs, zeolites) porous material.

This manuscript reviews key developments in the important and rapidly expanding area of templated porous carbons. The porosity covered ranges from microporous to mesoporous and macroporous carbons. Two modes of templating, using so-called hard and soft templates, are covered. In particular, for hard templating, zeolite templating generates microporous carbons, mesoporous silicates yield mesoporous carbons, while colloidal particles are replicated to large mesoporous and macroporous carbons. Soft-templating, a more recent phenomenon, mainly generates mesoporous carbons. The full range of pore sizes can therefore now be accessed using hard and soft templates to generate highly ordered nanoscale carbons with well-defined and optimised textural properties. The research area has seen rapid and important developments over the last few years, and this review aims to present the more significant advances.

Carbon materials have been prepared using zeolite 13X or zeolite Y as template and acetonitrile or ethylene as carbon source via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 550-1000 degrees C. Materials obtained from acetonitrile at 750-850 degrees C (zeolite 13X) or 750-900 degrees C (zeolite Y) have high surface area (1170-1920 m(2)/g), high pore volume (0.75-1.4 cm(3) g(-1)), and exhibit some structural ordering replicated from the zeolite templates. Templating with zeolite Y generally results in materials with higher surface area. High CVD temperature (> or =900 degrees C) results in low surface area materials that have significant proportions of graphitic carbon and no zeolite-type structural ordering. The nitrogen content of the samples derived from acetonitrile varies between 5 and 8 wt %. When ethylene is used as a carbon precursor, high surface area (800-1300 m(2)/g) materials are only obtained at lower CVD temperature (550-750 degrees C). The ethylene-derived carbons retain some zeolite-type pore channel ordering but also exhibit significant levels of graphitization even at low CVD temperature. In general, the carbon materials retain the particle morphology of the zeolite templates, with solid-core particles obtained at 750-850 degrees C while hollow shells are generated at higher CVD temperature (> or =900 degrees C). We observed hydrogen uptake of up to 4.5 wt % and 45 g H(2)/L (volumetric density) at -196 degrees C and 20 bar for the carbon materials. The hydrogen uptake was found to be dependent on surface area and was therefore influenced by the choice of zeolite template and carbon source. Zeolite Y-templated N-doped carbons had the highest hydrogen uptake capacity. Gravimetric and volumetric methods gave similar uptake capacity at 1 bar (i.e., 1.6 and 2.0 wt % for zeolite 13X and Y-templated N-doped carbons, respectively). Our findings show that zeolite-templated carbons are attractive for hydrogen storage and highlight the potential benefits of functionalization (nitrogen-doping).

A nanocasting route that utilizes well‐ordered mesoporous carbon as a solid template can be used to synthesize zeolite ZSM‐5 with unique supermicropores. By changing the nature of the mesoporous carbon template, the textural properties of the zeolite can be varied, and as the Figure shows, the mesoporous MZSM‐5 zeolites are made up of nanocrystallites.