Metallic mesoporous transition metal oxide molecular sieves, room temperature activation of dinitrogen and ammonia production
AssigneeUniversity of Windsor
InventorDavid M. Antonelli
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention provides novel stable metallic mesoporous transition metal oxide molecular sieves and methods for their production. The sieves have high electrical conductivity and may be used as solid electrolyte devices, e.g., in fuel cells, as sorbents, e.g. for hydrogen storage, and as catalysts. The invention also provides room temperature activation of dinitrogen, using the sieves as a catalyst, which permits ammonia production at room temperature.
Claims21
A metallic mesoporous transition metal oxide molecular sieve (metallic sieve), comprising:
- (a) a mesoporous transition metal oxide molecular sieve (non-metallic sieve), comprising at least 50 molar % of a transition metal oxide selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, niobium oxide, hafnium oxide, tantalum oxide and a mixture thereof;
- and
- (b) at least one transition metal or lanthanide metal deposited in pores of said non-metallic sieve;
- wherein the at least one transition metal or lanthanide metal when deposited is in a lower oxidation state than the inner walls of the pores of the non-metallic sieve such that oxidation of the deposited transition metal or lanthanide metal by the inner walls occurs, resulting in a metallic sieve.
A process for preparing a metallic sieve of claim 21, comprising treating mesoporous titanium oxide with bis(toluene)titanium under a nitrogen atmosphere to produce the metallic sieve of claim 20.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.