Journal of Materials Science, Vol.48, No.18, 6286-6292, 2013
Rapid synthesis of pure DD3R zeolite using ball-milled Sigma-1 seeds under static conditions
Deca-Dodecasil 3 Rhombohedral (DD3R) zeolite has great potential applications in the separation of gases with small molecular size; however, the extremely long crystallization time and the generated impure phases such as Sigma-Two (SGT) and Dodecasil 1H (DOH) have been the main obstacles for commercial utilization. In this work, ball-milled Sigma-1 was used as seeds for the first time to induce the crystallization of DD3R crystals. Pure DD3R zeolite was successfully produced under static conditions with drastically reduced crystallization time of ca. 9 h. The new synthesis approach showed 100 % of repeatability to obtain pure DD3R zeolite.