The Structure of Zinc Active Sites in Zeolite-Based Catalysts in the Recycling of CO2 and CH4 Determined with Anomalous Diffraction at the Z

This proposal aims to elucidate the structure of zinc sites incorporated into several Al-rich zeolitic topologies: MFI, FER, and MOR. The objective is to enhance their performance in recycling CO2 and CH4 into green platform chemicals. Zinc sites can exist as extra-framework positions or replace silicon within the zeolite framework as T-atoms. However, the precise details regarding the nature of these sites and their behavior during the proposed reaction remain unknown, primarily due to the low zinc concentration (3 wt.%) and only partial substitution for silicon. Therefore, our primary objective is to pinpoint the positions and geometry of the zinc species by utilizing anomalous (resonant) scattering techniques across the Zn K-edge (9.65 keV).