Negative thermal expansion in silicalite-1 and zirconium silicalite-1 having MFI structure

In situ high temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) studies on monoclinic silicalite-1 (S-1, silica polymorph of ZSM-5) and an orthorhombic metallosilicate molecular sieve, zirconium silicalite-1 (ZrS-1) with MFI structure (Si/Zr = 50) have been carried out using a laboratory X-ray diffractometer with an Anton Parr HTK 1600 attachment. While the structure of the S-1 collapsed at 1123 K forming α-cristobalite. S-1 and ZrS-1 showed a complex thermal expansion behavior in the temperature range 298–1023 K, ZrS-1 was stable. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data taken in this region have shown strong negative lattice thermal expansion coefficient, αV = −6.75 × 10−6 and −17.92 × 10−6 K−1 in the temperature range 298–1023 K−1 for S-1 and ZrS-1 samples, respectively. The thermal expansion behavior of S-1 and ZrS-1 is anisotropic, with the relative strength of contraction along a axis is more than that along b and c axes. Three different thermal expansion regions could be identified in the overall temperature range (298–1023 K) studied, corroborating with the three steps of weight loss in the TG curve of ZrS-1 sample. While the region between 298 and 423 K, displays positive thermal expansion coefficient with αV = 2.647 × 10−6 and 4.24 × 10−6 K−1, the second region between 423 and 873 K shows strong negative thermal expansion (NTE) coefficient αV = −7.602 × 10−6 and −15.04 × 10−6 K−1, respectively, for S-1 and ZrS-1 samples. The region between 873 and 1023 K, shows a very strong NTE coefficient with αV = −12.08 × 10−6 and −45.622 × 10−6 K−1 for S-1 and ZrS-1, respectively, which is the highest in the whole temperature range studied. NTE seen over a temperature range 298–1023 K could be associated with transverse vibrations of bridging oxygen atoms in the structure which results in an apparent shortening of the Si–O distances.