The effect of local defects on water adsorption in silicalite-1 zeolite: a joint experimental and molecular simulation study

We report a joint experimental and molecular simulation study of water condensation in silicalite-1 zeolite. A sample was synthesized using the fluoride route and was found to contain essentially no defects. A second sample synthesized using the hydroxide route was found to contain a small amount of silanol groups. The thermodynamics of water condensation was studied in these two samples, as well as in a commercial sample, in order to understand the effect of local defects on water adsorption. The molecular simulation study enabled us to qualitatively reproduce the experimentally observed condensation thermodynamics features. A shift and a rounding of the condensation transition was observed with an increasing hydrophilicity of the local defect, but the condensation transition was still observed above the water saturation vapor pressure P0. Both experiments and simulations agree on the fact that a small water uptake can be observed at very low pressure, but that the bulk liquid does not form from the gas phase below P0. The picture that emerges from the observed water condensation mechanism is the existence of a heterogeneous internal surface that is overall hydrophobic, despite the existence of hydrophilic "patches". This heterogeneous surface configuration is thermodynamically stable in a wide range of reduced pressures (from P/P0 = 0.2 to a few thousands), until the condensation transition takes place.