Dynamics of water diffusion in mesoporous zeolites

Pulsed field gradient NMR has been applied to investigate water diffusion in Na+-form zeolites beta and LTA if, in addition to the micropores, the intracrystalline space is traversed by a network of mesopores. In zeolite beta, the presence of the mesopores is found to enhance the rate of molecular diffusion by a factor of 3. The measurements with mesoporous zeolite LTA yield diffusivities which reproduce the order of magnitude of the diffusivities found in previous studies with genuine microporous specimens.

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► In this study we report on pulsed field gradient NMR diffusion study of water in mesoporous beta and LTA zeolites.
► In zeolite beta, the rate of molecular diffusion is enhanced due to the presence of the mesopores.
► In mesoporous zeolite LTA, the diffusivities reproduce the order of magnitude of the diffusivities found in previous studies with genuine microporous specimens.