Preparation and characterization of UTD-12/ZSM-48 thin films via pulsed-laser deposition

UTD-12/ZSM-48 films have been produced utilizing pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) onto stainless steel foil and stainless steel frits. Attempts to reorganize the PLD film using, bis(cyclopentadienyl)cobalt(III) ion (Cp2Co+) resulted in a nonasil film. However, laser ablation of UTD-12 onto stainless steel foil followed by a hydrothermal treatment utilizing a ZSM-48 polymorph A template solution (1,6-hexanediamine) resulted in partially oriented, crystalline UTD-12 membranes (polymorph B). This suggests the UTD-12 PLD film acts as nuclei or seeds in the reorganization to a UTD-12 film even though the organic structure directing agent should have produced a different ZSM-48 polymorph (A). A hydrothermal treatment process utilizing a mixture of templates, bis(cyclopentadienyl)cobalt(III) ion/1,6-hexanediamine also produced UTD-12 films but with some nonasil contamination.