A combination
of Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction was used
to investigate the insertion of ammonia borane in the 5.5 Å diameter
pores of the hydrophobic, all-silica zeolite, silicalite-1F in the
pressure range up to 4.8 GPa. Insertion and nanoconfinement result
in the appearance of new Raman modes, especially in the N–H
stretching region and significant changes in the intensities and pressure
dependencies of a large number of other modes. Orientational disorder
of the −BH3 and −NH3 groups persists
to higher pressures in nanoconfined as compared to the bulk ammonia
borane. The structure of the recovered sample was determined by single
crystal X-ray diffraction. Each pore in the unit cell was found to
contain between 2 and 3 molecules of ammonia borane forming single-molecule
chains due to the spatial constraints. In situ, high pressure, X-ray
powder diffraction indicated that the compressibility of the ammonia
borane-silicalite-1F composite is three times lower than that of empty
silicalite-1F due to pore filling. These results show that silicalite-1F
can be a suitable nanoscaffold for this important chemical hydrogen-storage
material.
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