X-ray Excited Optical Fluorescence and Diffraction Imaging of Reactivity and Crystallinity in a Zeolite Crystal: Crystallography and Molecular Spectroscopy in One.

ABSTRACT: Structure-activity relationships in heterogeneous catalysis are challenging to be measured on a single-particle level. For the first time, one X-ray beam is used to determine the crystallographic structure and reactivity of a single zeolite crystal. The method generates μm-resolved X-ray diffraction (μ-XRD) and X-ray excited optical fluorescence (μ-XEOF) maps of the crystallinity and Brønsted reactivity of a zeolite crystal previously reacted with a styrene probe molecule. The local gradients in chemical reactivity (derived from μ-XEOF) were correlated with local crystallinity and framework Al content, determined by μ-XRD. Two distinctly different types of fluorescent species formed selectively, depending on the local zeolite crystallinity. The results illustrate the potential of this appr

SUBMITTER: Ristanovic Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4950320 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature