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Carlo Lamberti

Publications and source records attributed to Carlo Lamberti.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

A thermally stable Pt/Y-based metal-organic framework: Exploring the accessibility of the metal centers with spectroscopic methods using H2O, CH3OH, and CH3CN as probes.

A metal-organic framework (MOF) based on Pt, Y, and 2,2'-bipyridine-5,5'-dicarboxylate (BPDC), stable up to 400 degrees C, has been synthesized and characterized. In this MOF, the Pt centers are coordinated to Cl and the N atoms of the BPDC unit, giving a local environment similar to that found in a series of Pt-organic complexes with catalytic activity toward C-H bond cleavage of alkanes. This new material is a heterogeneous counterpart to the corresponding metal-organic complex. The structure, determined by single-crystal XRD data, is the repetition of three covalently bonded layers. These layers form a block, which is stacking as an (a)(b)(c) sequence along the crystallographic b-axis. Each layer contains the Pt-organic unit, while Y atoms represent the connection between adjacent layers. No covalent connection is present between layer (a) of a block and layer (c) of an adjacent block. EXAFS (BM29 at the ESRF) analysis supports the XRD data. As this MOF crystallizes under hydrothermal conditions, water acts both as solvent and as a direct ligand of Y. Accessibility to the metal centers is demonstrated by reversible water desorption/readsorption, as determined by TPA/TPD, FTIR, UV-vis, EXAFS, and XANES. Importantly, the results show that the as-synthesized material will not suffer a permanent loss in porosity upon solvent removal. In addition to water, methanol, ethanol, and acetonitrile can also access the internal void of the dehydrated phase.

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PubMed2006

Time-resolved in situ studies of oxygen intercalation into SrCoO2.5, performed by neutron diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Electrochemical oxidation of the antiferromagnetically ordered SrCoO(2.5), with brownmillerite-type structure, to the cubic ferromagnet SrCoO(3), with perovskite structure, has been investigated in situ by neutron diffraction as well as by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy in specially designed electrochemical cells. The neutron diffraction experiments were performed twice, using two different wavelengths (lambda = 1.2921(2) and 4.74 A) in order to better discriminate structural and magnetic changes as functions of the charge transfer. From the neutron diffraction experiments, two intermediate phases, SrCoO(2.75) and SrCoO(2.82)(+/-)(0.07), were characterized. No superstructure reflections were observed for the corresponding SrCoO(2.75) phase. Instead we observed here, for the first time, 3D oxygen ordering during an oxygen intercalation reaction, as established for SrCoO(2.82)(+/-)(0.07), which can be described as a tetragonal unit cell, related to the perovskite cell by a approximately 2(a radical2) and c approximately 2a. The structure of this intermediate phase confirms the strongly topotactic character of the oxygen intercalation reaction. We were also able to prove, from in situ XAFS spectroscopy at the Co absorption edge, that the evolution of the Co valence state from formally +3 for SrCoO(2.5) to +4 for the final reaction product (SrCoO(3.0)) does not proceed continuously but gives evidence for the formation of O(-) species for stoichiometries corresponding to SrCoO(2.82)(+/-)(0.07). The use of neutrons (vs X-rays) in the diffraction experiments and the choice of the transmission (vs fluorescence) mode in the XAFS experiment guarantee that the obtained data well represent bulk and not just surface properties.

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PubMed2005

Behavior of extraframework Fe sites in MFI and MCM-22 zeolites upon interaction with N2O and NO.

We report on the characterization of an isomorphously substituted Fe-MCM-22 sample containing both Fe and Al in framework positions (Si/Fe = 44, Si/Al = 25). XANES spectroscopy was used to study the evolution of Fe sites as a consequence of thermal activation at high temperature (1073 K) and subsequent oxidation with N2O. The results were compared to those obtained in the same conditions on a well-known Fe-silicalite sample (Si/Fe = 68, Si/Al = infinity). In both samples, thermal activation causes migration of a fraction of Fe ions from framework to extraframework positions, this migration being accompanied by a reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+. Upon oxidation with N2O at 523 K, the two samples show a different behavior. While in Fe-silicalite practically all of the Fe2+ sites formed by thermal activation are reoxidized to Fe3+, in Fe-MCM-22 only a fraction of the extraframework iron sites is involved in the reoxidation process. The accessibility of the extraframework Fe sites was also investigated by using the NO molecule as a surface probe. Upon NO dosage on the sample, the modification of the pre-edge peak and of the edge position suggests an important charge release from the extraframework Fe2+ ions to the adsorbed molecules. This could be formalized with the formation of Fe3+(NO-) complexes, compatible (on the basis of the simple molecular orbital theory) with a bent NO geometry. The formation of a complex family of Fe2+ mono-, di-, and trinitrosyl complexes was also confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. Similarly to what was observed in the oxidation experiments, the fraction of extraframework Fe sites able to interact with NO in Fe-MCM-22 sample is smaller than that in Fe-silicalite treated in the same conditions. This trend is explained with a major clustering of extraframework Fe sites in Fe-MCM-22 sample, as was also suggested by FTIR experiments. These results suggest that the dispersion of iron in zeolitic matrixes prepared by isomorphous substitution could also depend on the zeolitic structure.

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PubMed2005

Hydrogen storage in Chabazite zeolite frameworks.

We have recently highlighted that H-SSZ-13, a highly siliceous zeolite (Si/Al = 11.6) with a chabazitic framework, is the most efficient zeolitic material for hydrogen storage [A. Zecchina, S. Bordiga, J. G. Vitillo, G. Ricchiardi, C. Lamberti, G. Spoto, M. Bjørgen and K. P. Lillerud, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 6361]. The aim of this new study is thus to clarify both the role played by the acidic strength and by the density of the polarizing centers hosted in the same framework topology in the increase of the adsorptive capabilities of the chabazitic materials towards H2. To achieve this goal, the volumetric experiments of H2 uptake (performed at 77 K) and the transmission IR experiment of H2 adsorption at 15 K have been performed on H-SSZ-13, H-SAPO-34 (the isostructural silico-aluminophosphate material with the same Brønsted site density) and H-CHA (the standard chabazite zeolite: Si/Al = 2.1) materials. We have found that a H2 uptake improvement has been obtained by increasing the acidic strength of the Brønsted sites (moving from H-SAPO-34 to H-SSZ-13). Conversely, the important increase of the Brønsted sites density (moving from H-SSZ-13 to H-CHA) has played a negative role. This unexpected behavior has been explained as follows. The additional Brønsted sites are in mutual interaction via H-bonds inside the small cages of the chabazitic framework and for most of them the energetic cost needed to displace the adjacent OH ligand is higher than the adsorption enthalpy of the OH...H2 adduct. From our work it can be concluded that proton exchanged chabazitic frameworks represent, among zeolites, the most efficient materials for hydrogen storage. We have shown that a proper balance between available space (volume accessible to hydrogen), high contact surface, and specific interaction with strong and isolated polarizing centers are the necessary characteristics requested to design better materials for molecular H2 storage.

Alloys↗
PubMed2005

Liquid hydrogen in protonic chabazite.

Due to its fully reversible nature, H(2) storage by molecular adsorption could represent an advantage with respect to dissociative processes, where kinetic effects during the charging and discharging processes are present. A drawback of this strategy is represented by the extremely weak interactions that require low temperature and high pressure. High surface area materials hosting polarizing sites can represent a viable way toward more favorable working conditions. Of these, in this contribution, we have studied hydrogen adsorption in a series of zeolites using volumetric techniques and infrared spectroscopy at 15 K. We have found that in H-SSZ-13 zeolite the cooperative role played by high surface area, internal wall topology, and presence of high binding energy sites (protons) allows hydrogen to densify inside the nanopores at favorable temperature and pressure conditions.

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PubMed2005

FTIR adsorption studies of H2O and CH3OH in the isostructural H-SSZ-13 and H-SAPO-34: formation of H-bonded adducts and protonated clusters.

The acidity of the isostructural H-SSZ-13 and H-SAPO-34 has been investigated by transmission FTIR spectroscopy using H2O and CH3OH as molecular probes. Interactions between the zeolitic samples and the probe molecules led to perturbations and proton transfers directly related to the acidity of the materials. The entire set of acidic sites in H-SSZ-13 interacts with H2O and CH3OH to give H-bonded adducts or protonated species. H3O+ is not formed in appreciable amounts upon H2O adsorption on H-SSZ-13, but at high coverages H2O generates clusters that have a proton affinity sufficiently high to abstract protons from the zeolite framework. Parallel experiments carried out for H-SAPO-34 showed that the H2O clusters abstract protons from Brønsted sites only to a minor extent. Moving to CH3OH, even if it has a higher proton affinity than H2O and should expectingly experience an easier protonation, proton transfer is totally absent in H-SAPO-34 under our set of conditions. The clear evidence of methanol protonation in H-SSZ-13 definitely states the strong acidic character of this material. When irreversibly adsorbed CH3OH is present in H-SSZ-13, an appreciable amount of (CH3)2O is formed upon heating to 573 K. Compared to its SAPO analogue, the present set of data indisputably points to H-SSZ-13 as the strongest Brønsted acidic material.

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PubMed2005

Assessing the acidity of high silica chabazite H-SSZ-13 by FTIR using CO as molecular probe: Comparison with H-SAPO-34.

Zeolitic materials based on the chabazite topology, such as H-SAPO-34, possess unique shape-selectivity properties for converting methanol into light olefins. In addition to the topology, zeolite acidity is inherently linked to catalyst activity and selectivity. The acidic properties of high silica chabazite (H-SSZ-13) have attracted much attention in the past decade because the material represents an idealized model system having one acidic site per cage. Conclusions drawn so far have essentially been founded on quantum chemical methods. An experimentally based benchmark of the acidity of H-SSZ-13 has hitherto not been available. In this work, transmission FTIR spectroscopy provides a description of the different acidic sites of H-SSZ-13 by using CO as molecular probe at 70 K. The results demonstrate that H-SSZ-13 is a strongly Brønsted acidic material, essentially having two distinct families of acidic sites. In contrast to numerous preceding reports, we find it fundamental to consider proton distributions among all four possible sites, and do not delimit the interpretations to only two sites. The present data consistently suggest the most abundant family of protons to have three members being located on different crystalline positions on the eight-membered-ring window giving access to the chabazite cage. Consequently, these protons are exposed to two neighboring cages. The second, and less abundant family, is constituted by only one site that is situated on the six-membered ring defining the top/bottom of the barrel-shaped chabazite cage. This proton is therefore only exposed to one cage and requires a higher CO pressure to form adducts. Toward CO, both families of sites possess the same acidity. Parallel experiments were also carried out for the isostructural and commercially important H-SAPO-34 having an equal density of acidic sites. This is the first attempt to directly compare, on an experimental basis, the acidity of these two materials.

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PubMed2004

Cu+(H2) and Na+(H2) adducts in exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites.

Cu(I) ions in Cu-ZSM-5 form Cu+(H2) complexes, stable at room temperature and sub-atmospheric H2 pressure, which do not have any homogeneous analogue except for matrix-isolated [Cu(eta2-H2)Cl]. Comparison with the unstable Na+(H2) adducts formed in the parent Na-ZSM-5 zeolite allow the conclusion that the Cu(I)/H2 bond is governed by sigma-pi overlap forces.

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PubMed2003

Template burning inside TS-1 and Fe-MFI molecular sieves: an in situ XRPD study.

The high X-ray flux available at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), combined with the use of a suitably designed area detector setup, allowed us to follow in real time the structural changes occurring during the template burning processes inside TS-1 and Fe-silicalite MFI zeolites with a X-ray powder diffraction technique (XRPD). Rietveld analysis of the XRPD patterns collected in the 350-1000 K interval, integrated each 15 K, yields to the determination of the template overall occupancy factor versus T with an accuracy comparable with that obtained by thermogravimetric measurements, routinely employed for this purpose. The evolution of the structural parameters (V, a, b, c, site occupancy factor of the template molecule) vs T has been obtained. These data allow us to have, for the first time, a complete view of the structural rearrangements induced by the template burning process on the zeolitic framework. The differences caused by the different heteroatom inserted in the MFI lattice (Ti or Fe) are discussed. For both TS-1 and Fe-MFI, the kinetics of the reaction were investigated, to obtain the activation energy of the calcinations process employing the nonisothermal data according to the theory recently proposed by Kennedy and Clark [Thermochim. Acta, 1997, 307, 27-35]. For TS-1 only, the time-resolved template burning experiment has been repeated in isothermal conditions at four different temperatures, to obtain the activation energy from isothermal data, according to the standard procedure. Comparison between Arrhenius plots obtained from isothermal and nonisothermal data demonstrates that the Kennedy and Clark method can be also applied to complex materials such as the MFI zeolites. This approach, when applied to time-resolved XRPD studies, is much less time consuming (requesting, in principle, one single nonisothermal run) with respect to the classic approach, which requests at least three isothermal runs. Moreover, it allows a remarkably lower associated error (151 +/- 11 versus 146 +/- 30 kJ mol(-)(1)) due to the much higher number of experimental points employed to perform the linear fit.

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PubMed2003

Anchoring Fe ions to amorphous and crystalline oxides: a means to tune the degree of Fe coordination.

We report on an IR spectroscopic study on the room-temperature adsorption of NO on different iron(II)-containing siliceous matrices. Fe2+ hosted inside the channels of MFI-type zeolites (Fe-ZSM-5 and Al-free Fe-silicalite) exhibits pronounced coordinative unsaturation, as witnessed by the capability to form, at 300 K, [Fe2-(NO)], [Fe2+(NO)2] and [Fe2+(NO)3] complexes with increasing NO equilibrium pressure. Fe2+ hosted on amorphous supports (high surface area SiO2 and MCM-41) sinks more deeply into the surface of the siliceous support and thus exhibits less pronounced coordinative unsaturation: only [Fe2+(NO)2] complexes were observed, even at the highest investigated NO equilibrium pressures. Activation at higher temperature (1073 K) of the Al-free Fe-silicalite sample resulted in the appearance of Fe2+ species similar to those observed on SiO2 and MCM-41, and this suggests that local (since not detectable by X-ray diffraction) amorphisation of the environment around Fe2+ anchoring sites occurs. The fact that this behaviour is not observed on the Fe-ZSM-5 sample activated at the same temperature suggests that framework Al species (and their negatively charged oxygen environment) have an important role in anchoring extraframework Fe2+ species. Such an anchoring phenomenon will prevent a random migration of iron species, with subsequent aggregation and loss of coordinative unsaturation. These observations can thus explain the higher catalytic activity of the Fe-ZSM-5 system in one-step benzene to phenol conversion when compared with the parent, Al-free, Fe-silicalite system with similar Fe content. The nature of the support and the activation temperature can therefore be used as effective means to tune the degree of Fe coordination.

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PubMed2003

Oxide/metal interface distance and epitaxial strain in the NiO/Ag(001) system.

Geometric parameters of NiO films epitaxially grown on Ag(001) were determined using two independent experimental techniques and ab initio simulations. Primary beam diffraction modulated electron emission experiments determined that the NiO films grow with O on top of Ag and that the oxide/metal interface distance is d=2.3+/-0.1 A. Polarization-dependent x-ray absorption, at the Ni-K edge, determined the tetragonal strain (r( parallel )=2.046+/-0.009 A, r( perpendicular )=2.12+/-0.02 A) and d=2.37+/-0.05 A. Periodic slab model results agree with the experiments (d=2.40, r( parallel )=2.07, r( perpendicular )=2.10 A; the O-on-top configuration is the most stable).

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PubMed2003

Enhancement of the ETS-10 titanosilicate activity in the shape-selective photocatalytic degradation of large aromatic molecules by controlled defect production.

In recent times, it has been shown that the microporous ETS-10 titanosilicate can be used as a shape-selective photocatalyst for the decomposition of aromatic molecules (Chem. Commun. 2001, 2131). Its actual use on practical grounds is however discouraged by its too low activity, when compared with that of TiO(2) photocatalysts. In the present work, we show how an ad hoc mild treatment with HF enhances the activity of ETS-10 toward the photodegradation of large aromatic molecules that are unable to penetrate inside the zeolitic pores, such as 2,5-dichlorophenol, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene, and 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN). The photoactivity of the acid-treated materials is comparable or even greater than that of the nonselective TiO(2) catalyst. Moreover, the enhancement of the photoactivity is accompanied by a remarkable parallel increase of the shape selectivity, particularly toward DHN (k(DHN)/k(P) = 127, where P = phenol). A complete characterization (by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and X-ray aborption spectroscopy techniques) of a set of ETS-10 samples which have undergone a progressively severe HF treatment allows us to propose an explanation of the photocatalytic activity and selectivity of the modified materials.

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