Preparation of silicalite-1 layers on Pt-coated carbon materials: a possible electrochemical approach towards membrane reactors

A novel kind of composites is synthesized due to the outstanding properties of carbon materials. Metallic platinum is deposited on porous carbon discs by means of Potential Step Deposition (PSD) under potentiostatic conditions. Afterwards, the Pt-coated discs were covered completely with colloidal zeolite (silicalite-1) crystals by means of the novel ElectroPhoretic Deposition (EPD) methodology. After standard hydrothermal treatment, the seed crystal coating becomes continuous, crack-free and well-intergrown, giving rise to a layer of silicalite-1 crystals of different sizes. It must be noted that Pt combined with the secondary growth methodology has a extremely important effect on the orientation of the growing zeolite crystals. These novel materials have a wide range of potential applications as membrane reactors and/or catalyst membranes after activation (i.e. template removal by calcination) of the zeolite crystals.