Reactive atmospheric pressure plasma for highly efficient removal of structure-directing agents from zeolite thin films

Abstract

We present a novel approach to remove the structure-directing agent (SDA) from as-synthesized zeolites using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ). This reduces the time required to less than 60 seconds as compared to the existing thermal calcination, whose durations range from hours to days. The highly reactive plasma also results in a pronounced Q³-to-Q⁴ transformation in the pure-silica zeolite MFI.