QCM-2017-2-0010 First principle study of NaY zeolite and their Pt cluster loading

Platinum particles offer a reliable and cheap catalyst for certain fundamental chemical reaction. Due to its cost, the use of this material presents serious challenges and one way to maximise the return is to consider relatively small clusters made of a few atoms. On the other hand, zeolites are quite common structures used mostly as filter, but they find applications also as host of other nano-particles. Here, we wish investigate how Pt nano-particles can be encaged in a zeolite, and how the physical and hopefully catalytic activity of the metal cluster vary due to the environment. This could pave the way to novel chemical devices tailored for specific reaction or physical properties.