Georgia Tech Discovers Zeolite Nanotubes

Zeolites, used to produce chemicals, fuels, and materials, are 3D or 2D materials. However, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Stockholm Univerisity, and Penn State University have discovered crystalline zeolites in a nanotubular (1D) shape. They published their findings in the Jan. 6 issue of Science.
Researchers hope to find zeolitic nanotubes with pore size, shape, and chemistry variations.

While designing syntheses to assemble 2D zeolite materials, the researchers discovered a new type of assembly process was occurring, leading to a novel 1D zeolite material that had a tube-like structure with perforated porous walls. The Georgia Tech researchers teamed up with zeolite crystallography experts at Stockholm University and Penn State to resolve the detailed arrangement of the atoms in the zeolite nanotube.

See: “Single-walled zeolitic nanotubes.” Science. Jan. 6, 2022.