Dr. Eddy Dib, Normandie University, ENSICAEN, UNICAEN, CNRS, Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie, Caen, 14000, France

Electrical contrasts tune the properties of zeolites

Zeolites catalysts and adsorbents found their key-roles in the chemical industry by favouring desired reaction pathways. In line with the new circular economy needs, the zeolite family offers indispensable catalysts and adsorbents for several key-reactions and continues to show remarkable properties in new sustainable processes. This is due to their high thermal stability arising from their crystallinity, tuneable chemical composition, acidity, and shape selectivity linked to their uniform porous networks.

It is tempting to view zeolites as perfectly crystalline porous materials; however, such view of long-range order is unable to give insights on their atomic level ordering; the latter are often complex features which are still difficult to characterize as they include acid sites, hydroxyl groups, and metallic species. Thus, beyond the intimate structure-spectroscopy relationships, the structure-property relationship is far from trivial and many questions are still open on e.g. acidity and sorption properties of zeolites. Thus, atomic scale spectroscopic characterization and modelling are required for a further understanding of zeolites and the improvement of their performance.

In this presentation, we will explore the insights derived from the combination of experimental and theoretical spectroscopic approaches, mainly NMR, and their potential in understanding the complexity of the atomic organization of zeolites e.g. localization of acid sites and silanol groups and the role of organic templates. The impact of charge compensation mechanisms on the structural features of the obtained zeolites and zeotypes will be highlighted.

E. Dib et al.
1. Chem. Mater. 2015, 27, 22, 7577–7579.
2. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 1, 19–24.
3. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 27347-27352.
4. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2023, 127, 1, 3–10.
5. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025, 147, 4, 3274–3282.

Eddy Dib is now a Senior Researcher of the National Center of Scientific Research [CNRS], France. He is currently working in the Laboratory of Catalysis and Spectrochemistry [LCS], Caen. He earned his PhD degree in Physical Chemistry from the National Graduate School of Engineering of Montpellier [ENSCM], France; and his habilitation degree from the University of Caen [UNICAEN], France, after being project leader at the Center of Zeolites and porous Materials [CLEAR-RN]. His research interests reside in the conception of porous materials. They cover the understanding of the relationships between atomic arrangements and the properties of zeolites and zeotypes e.g. aluminophosphates, combining syntheses and modification methods with spectroscopic and modelling approaches aiming to control active sites distribution. His work focuses currently on novel combinations of spectroscopic approaches towards the understanding of the organic-inorganic or gas-solid interface and the follow up of crystal formation, probing the connectivity of pores and enhancing reactivity and adsorption phenomena. He was awarded with the Young researcher Award of the Federation of European Zeolite Associations [FEZA] in 2023 for his high impact contributions to application of NMR spectroscopy for understanding the conundrum of zeolites.

Host: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Freddy Kleitz