Role of
Silver Nanoparticles in Enhanced Xenon Adsorption
Using Silver-Loaded Zeolites
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Abstract
Molecular simulation is used to unravel
the adsorption mechanisms
of xenon on Ag-doped ZSM-5 zeolite. We show that silver nanoparticles,
which form at the external surface of zeolite crystallites, are responsible
for enhanced xenon physisorption at very low pressure. We also propose
a simple model of adsorption on such composite materials made up of
silver-exchanged zeolites and silver nanoparticles adsorbed at the
zeolite surface. This model, which allows predicting the adsorption
of other gases without any additional parameters, provides a tool
to characterize the amount of reduced silver as well as the silver
particle size distribution (in good agreement with transmission electron
microscopy images). The presence of a majority of silver nanoparticles
is further characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and X-ray Absorption
Spectroscopy at the silver K edge