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设备的改进和新设备的创建，例如新电池或新永磁体。 在固态与材料化学的支持下，该研究项目重点是制备新型沸石，这是一类由硅、铝和氧组成的微孔晶体材料，它们都是天然存在的，并且可以大规模工业合成，以满足其在催化应用中的广泛需求。该项目详细介绍了新型沸石的开发，其中含有铁而不是铝和硅。 这些铁基沸石可用作工业催化剂、可持续能源创造的新型磁性材料以及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训练有素的男性、女性和代表性不足的少数族裔能够进入劳动力市场并满足行业对科学家的需求。以第一个包含全铁骨架的方钠石型沸石为模型，zur Loye小组开发的Hydroflux合成方法被应用于新型铁基骨架材料的合成，该材料可以影响大量的研究领域，从简单的催化材料到新型磁性材料，再到用于固定储能的新型钠离子电池。 合成目标是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在新的骨架结构中结晶的铁沸石。 优化的反应条件旨在形成新的铁基骨架，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要求。 由于 Fe-O-Fe 连接的存在，不同的骨架具有高磁性，这对结构特定的磁性行为产生重要影响。 同样，具有不同尺寸通道的特定框架结构预计会极大地影响钠离子迁移率，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.