IR and XRD amorphous synthesis residue showing zeolitic micropores

In the preparation of zeolite nanocrystals from the hydrothermal reaction of clear solution, the zeolite products are typically collected by high speed centrifugation. For Beta zeolite, the crystalline yield is often low, thus a good fraction of silicates reminds in the supernatant. These XRD amorphous materials turn out to be uniform nanoparticles that, after calcination, showed similar micropore structure as that of the collected beta zeolite nanocrystals. TPD measurements of hexane isomers further indicated that both the crystalline and the amorphous products were more selective toward the smaller hexane molecule.