Single-walled zeolitic nanotubes

Abstract

Zeolitic nanotubes Nanotubes generally have solid walls, but a low-dimensional version of zeolites now introduces porosity into such structures. Korde et al . used a structure-directing agent with a hydrophobic biphenyl group center connecting two long alkyl chains bearing hydrophilic bulky quaternary ammonium head groups to direct hydrothermal synthesis with silicon-rich precursors (see the Perspective by Fan and Dong). The nanotubes have a mesoporous central channel of approximately 3 nanometers and zeolitic walls with micropores less than 0.6 nanometers. Electron microscopy and modeling showed that the outer surface is a projection of a large-pore zeolite and the inner surface is a projection of a medium-pore zeolite. —PDS