Zeolite crystallization in crosslinked chitosan hydrogels: crystal size control and chitosan removal

Dan Li, Yi Huang, Kyle R. Ratinac, Simon P. Ringer, Huanting Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

For the purpose of controlling zeolite crystal size, crystallization of zeolite NaA and NaY in glutaraldehyde crosslinked chitosan (GA-CS) hydrogels was studied in this paper. The zeolite crystals were produced by penetration of Na2O-Al2O3-H2O alkaline solution into GA-CS hydrogels filled with colloidal silica, followed by hydrothermal treatment and removal of GA-CS hydrogels. We systematically investigated the effects of the synthesis parameters - including the amounts of silica, chitosan, and glutaraldehyde, and the aging and heating times - on the size, size distribution and crystallinity of the particles. A hydrogen peroxide treatment method was shown to be an effective way for removing GA-CS hydrogels, thereby avoiding the conventional calcination step. X-ray diffraction (XRD), light scattering, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and N2 sorption were used to characterize the zeolite samples. This work showed that GA-CS is a promising space-confinement medium for the synthesis of zeolite nanocrystals with tunable crystal sizes and excellent dispersibility.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)416-423
Number of pages8
JournalMicroporous and Mesoporous Materials
Volume116
Issue number1-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2008
Externally publishedYes

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