Incorporation of Co(II) in dealuminated BEA zeolite at lattice tetrahedral sites evidenced by XRD, FTIR, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis, EPR, and TPR.

A CoSiBEA zeolite is prepared by a two-step postsynthesis method that consists of first creating vacant T-sites with associated silanol groups by dealumination of TEABEA zeolite with nitric acid and then impregnating the resulting SiBEA zeolite with an aqueous solution of Co(NO3)2. The incorporation of Co into lattice sites of SiBEA is evidenced by XRD. The consumption of OH groups is monitored by FTIR. The presence of Co in its II oxidation state and in tetrahedral coordination is evidenced by diffuse reflectance UV-vis and EPR spectroscopy. The very high reduction temperature (1120 K) of cobalt in CoSiBEA zeolite determined by TPR confirms that Co interacts strongly with the zeolite support, consistent with lattice tetrahedral (T(d)) coordination.