Gyeong-Su Park

Solid-solid transformation mechanism for nanocrystalline sodalite from pillared clay.

We here report the synthesis of nanocrystalline sodalite by a solid-solid transformation from a solid gel mixture of Al2O3 pillared montmorillonite (Al2O3-PILM) and NaOH under an ambient atmosphere at 80 degrees C. HR-TEM clearly shows both the formation of sodalite nuclei by the solid-solid transformation of the montmorillonite matrix and the crystal growth of nanocrystalline sodalite through the rearrangement of delocalized nuclei.