Zeolitic behaviour in stuffed silica polymorphs

Abstract

Alkali-metal aluminosilicates with the quartz, cristobalite and tridymite structures possess zeolitic behaviour when imperfectly crystallised. In aqueous solution these novel materials display a level of cation exchange which is comparable with synthetic zeolites. In contrast, when they are well crystallised these stuffed silica polymorphs, as they are also known, do not possess this cation exchange behaviour. They can be prepared simply from clay minerals and have potential as inexpensive inorganic cation exchangers.