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Many experimental techniques used to probe zeolites require large
single crystals (greater than 30 microns). Examples are single crystal
x-ray diffraction (used for detailed structure determination),
macroscopic diffusion measurements, and pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR
diffusion measurements. Unfortunately for our PFG NMR work, industrial
applications favor small crystals, so we can't buy large crystals.
We have obtained large crystals from other research groups, but we
are also trying to build up the capability to synthesize our own large
zeolite crystals. To date we have been able to synthesize large
crystals of zeolites A and X. Work is underway to improve the purity of
our products and to synthesize other zeolites.
This work has been carried out by a large group of undergraduate
students over the last 6 years: Rich Rana, Noha Ekdawi, Edmund Lo,
Julie Nguyen, Toey Nivitchanyong, Adam Chen, Beth Heneghan, and Priya
Alexander. Post-doc Hongwei Du also contributed much to this work.
Financial support has come from the National Science Foundation through
a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant.
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