Preparation and characterization of nano-NaX zeolite by microwave assisted hydrothermal method

• Microwave heating was employed to synthesize nano-NaX zeolite crystals.
• Effect of reaction time and temperature on the characteristics of zeolite was studied.
• Microwave heating produced smaller nano-zeolites with narrower size distribution.
• Time and temperature of microwave heating had strong effects on the prepared zeolites.

In the present work, nano-NaX zeolite crystals were synthesized via microwave and conventional hydrothermal methods. The effects of reaction time, temperature and heating method on the characteristics of zeolite nanoparticles such as particle size, crystallinity, morphology, size distribution and surface area were investigated. The prepared NaX zeolite nanoparticles were characterized by the XRD, SEM, DLS, BET and XRF analysis. The results showed that both heating methods produced the NaX zeolite crystals with nano-in size. The microwave heating produced smaller zeolite nanoparticles with relatively narrower particle size distribution, required much shorter heating times and did not significantly change composition or crystallinity, compared with the conventional heating method. It was also observed that the time and temperature of microwave heating had significant effects on the prepared zeolite particles and the pure zeolite X nanoparticles or a mixture of zeolite X and A can be synthesized using the microwave heating method by control of the crystallization time and temperature.

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