Defect-Engineered Silicalite-1 Monoliths for Enhanced Hydrophobicity in Room-Temperature Tritium Oxidation

This study describes a monolithic silicalite-1 catalyst support designed for tritium oxidation reactions under humid conditions. Monolithic molecular sieves (sil-s) were fabricated by converting silica binders to silicalite-1 through secondary crystallization (175 °C, 24 h). In addition to the binder conversion to silicalite-1, some recrystallization of starting silicalite-1 (sil) results in higher crystallinity, lower concentration of silanol defects, and higher hydrophobicity. With the addition of 2% platinum, Pt/sil-s exhibited better stability under humid conditions, showing only 0.01%/min conversion decay over 800 min. This work has demonstrated a moisture-resistant Pt catalyst for tritium oxidation in fusion energy systems.