ROOM-TEMPERATURE AGING OF A ZSM-5 PREPARATION DETECTED BY SMALL-ANGLEX-RAY AND NEUTRON-SCATTERING AND NMR-SPECTROSCOPY

The room temperature aging process in a solution phase ZSM-5 preparati on has been studied by scattering and n.m.r. techniques. Small-angle X -ray scattering detected particles growing in the 1-10 nm size domain, and their evolution was followed over a period of 4 days; the most dr amatic changes occurred in the first 24 h. A contrast variation small- angle neutron scattering experiment was performed to determine if the particles that formed contained the template, the tetrapropylammonium cation. The nature of the bonds formed during the aging process was in vestigated by liquid phase Si-29, C-13, and Al-27 n.m.r. experiments.