Syntheses and structural properties of four Rb-aluminosilicate zeolites

Four types of Rb-aluminosilicate zeolites were hydrothermally synthesized in pure phase for the first time from Rb-aluminosilicate gels without using any organic structure-directing agent (SDA) under stirring conditions. The crystal structure of each zeolite was refined by Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. These crystal structures were confirmed to be Rb-mordenite, Rb-merlinoite, a new aluminosilicate zeolite with an ATT framework topology, and Rb-offretite denoted by RMA-1, RMA-2, RMA-3, and RMA-4, respectively. The Si/Al ratio of RMA-1 with an MOR topology varied from 5.3 to 8.0; however, the variation of the Si/Al ratios of the other zeolites was rather small. The crystal system of RMA-2 was tetragonal with space group I4/mmm, where two Rb sites were distributed at the center of an 8-membered ring (MR). On the other hand, two Rb sites in RMA-3 were located at the center of the 8-MR in small two cages. The structure of RMA-4 was identified as the OFF type with a local disorder or defect, which included a small amount of an intergrown ERI phase.