Changes in the medium-range order during crystallization of aluminosilicate zeolites characterized by high-energy X-ray diffraction technique

ZSM-5 and faujasite, which are aluminosilicate zeolites with different compositions, were synthesized without using organic structure-directing agents, and the changes in the medium-range order during the crystallization of ZSM-5 and faujasite were characterized by high-energy X-ray diffraction (HEXRD) technique. It is found that that the amorphous aluminosilicates have larger fraction of 4 membered ring (4R), compared to 6 membered ring (6R) that is the most dominant in amorphous silica. Furthermore, HEXRD measurements reveal that changes in the medium-range order are characteristic for each zeolite although crystallizations of both zeolites proceeded via a similar way: that is, the dissolution of amorphous precursors to solution followed by the nucleation and crystal growth of zeolite from the soluble species. In ZSM-5 crystallization, no major changes in the medium-range order are observed although slight decrease of the fraction of 4R is confirmed. On the other hand, clear changes in the medium-range order, especially on the ordering of 4R and 6R are confirmed in faujasite crystallization.