A simple synthesis procedure to prepare nanosized faujasite crystals

The interest in synthesizing zeolites with crystals in the nanometric size range has increased greatly in recent years; however most of the works depend on using organic structure directing agents. In this work nanosized crystals of zeolite faujasite were successfully synthesized without the use of organics. Among the synthesis parameters studied, the increased alkalinity of the synthesis gel was found to be the one that caused a decrease in the final particle size. The high alkalinity coupled with an aging step proved to be very effective in affording faujasite nanocrystals with high microporosity and external area. Thus it is possible to obtain nanocrystals of this zeolite using environmentally more friendly procedures, since they avoid the use of organic structure directing agents and their subsequent calcination.

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► A synthesis procedure is described to prepare nanosized faujasite crystals.
► The synthesis method involves no organic templates.
► High alkalinity and aging step were very effective to synthesize nanocrystals.