Growth of zeolite a on rutile, sapphire and quartz

Abstract

Summary Single crystals of zeolite A have been grown on essentially fiat single crystal surfaces of 001 rutile and sapphire and on single crystals of quartz. Two events of nucleation were observed, one initially on the support surface directly from dilute solution, and the other from a gel layer which formed later on the surface, resulting in a bimodal size distribution. Type of the support was seen to influence both events as was reflected in the orientation of the crystals. Formation of a monolayer of randomly oriented crystals of A was followed by time experiments on quartz surfaces.