EAGER: Synthesis of New Ferrolites: Zeolites Containing an All-Iron Framework The First of a New Family of Transition Metal Based Zeolites?

新材料的开发是固态化学研究的一个重要方面，其中使用非常高温的液体来生长所需新材料的晶体可以导致现有的改进和新设备的创造，如新的电池或新的永磁体。在固态和材料化学的支持下，本研究项目重点研究新型沸石的制备，沸石是一类由硅、铝和氧组成的微孔晶体材料，既可以自然存在，也可以大规模工业合成，以满足其在催化应用中的广泛需求。该项目详细介绍了一种新型沸石的开发，这种沸石含有铁而不是铝和硅。这些铁基沸石可以作为工业催化剂，作为可持续能源创造的新型磁性材料，以及作为钠电池的新型阴极材料。为了完成这些任务，本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员正在接受尖端技术的培训，以使用最先进的仪器合成和表征这些材料。这项研究的教育方面确保了训练有素的男性、女性和未被充分代表的少数民族能够进入劳动力市场，满足行业对科学家的需求。以第一个含全铁骨架的钠石型沸石为模型，将zur Loye小组开发的流体通量合成方法应用于新型铁基骨架材料的合成，可以影响从简单的催化材料到新型磁性材料，再到用于固定式储能的新型钠离子电池等大量研究领域。合成目的是研究沸石晶体化学的组成和结构扩展，特别是通过新的合成路线合成以新的框架结构结晶的铁酸盐。优化反应条件的目标是形成新的铁基框架，特别是沸石A和沸石Y型结构，然后研究它们的磁性行为和离子交换钠的能力，这是固定钠电池应用的必要条件。由于Fe-O-Fe键的存在，不同的骨架具有很强的磁性，这对结构特异性的磁性行为有重要影响。同样，具有不同尺寸通道的特定框架结构预计将极大地影响钠离子的迁移率，因此，优化对于电池应用非常重要。

The development of new materials is an important aspect of solid-state chemistry research, where the use of very high temperature liquids to grow crystals of desired new materials can lead to both the improvement of existing and the creation of new devices, such as new batteries or new permanent magnets. With the support of the Solid State and Materials Chemistry, this research project focuses on the preparation of new types of zeolites, a class of microporous, crystalline materials consisting of silicon, aluminum and oxygen that both occur naturally and are synthesized industrially on a very large scale to satisfy the widespread demand for their use in catalysis applications. This project details the development of a new class of zeolites that contain iron instead of aluminum and silicon. These iron-based zeolites can be utilized as catalysts for industry, as new magnetic materials for sustainable energy creation, and as new cathode materials for sodium batteries. To accomplish these tasks, undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are being trained in cutting-edge techniques for synthesizing and characterizing these materials using state of the art instrumentation. The educational aspect of this research assures that highly trained men, women, and underrepresented minorities can enter the workforce and meet industry's need for scientists.Using the first sodalite-type zeolite containing an all iron framework as a model, the hydroflux synthetic method developed in the zur Loye group is applied to the synthesis of new iron-based framework materials that can impact a large number of research areas ranging from simple catalytic materials, to new magnetic materials, to new sodium ion batteries for stationary power storage. The synthetic objective is the compositional and structural expansion of the crystal chemistry of zeolites, specifically synthesis of ferrolites crystallizing in new framework structures via new synthetic routes. The optimized reaction conditions target the formation of new iron based frameworks, specifically the zeolite A and zeolite Y type structures, that are then investigated for their magnetic behavior and for their ability to ion exchange sodium, a necessary requirement for stationary sodium battery applications. The different frameworks are highly magnetic due to the presence of Fe-O-Fe linkages, which exert an important influence on the structure-specific magnetic behavior. Similarly, the specific framework structure, with different sized channels, is expected to greatly impact the sodium ion mobility and, thus, that optimization is important for battery applications.