biostudies-literatureUnknown6Anand CTop-down approach has been viewed as an efficient and straightforward method to prepare nanosized zeolites. Yet, the mechanical breaking of zeolite causes amorphization, which usually requires a post-milling recrystallization to obtain fully crystalline nanoparticles. Herein we present a facile methodology to prepare zeolite nanocrystals, where milling and recrystallization can be performed in situ. A milling apparatus specially designed to work under conditions of high alkalinity and temperature enables the in situ recrystallization during milling. Taking zeolite A as an example, we demonstrate its size reduction from ~3 μm to 66 nm in 30 min, which is quite faster than previous methods reported. Three functions, viz., miniaturization, amorphization and recrystallization were found to takScientific reports29210https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4932601biostudies-literaturePioneering In Situ Recrystallization during Bead Milling: A Top-down Approach to Prepare Zeolite A Nanocrystals.PMC4932601Liu ZIshikawa TWakihara TAnand CYamaguchi YOkubo TElangovan SPIbe SIshii TEndo AfalsePioneering In Situ Recrystallization during Bead Milling: A Top-down Approach to Prepare Zeolite A Nanocrystals.Top-down approach has been viewed as an efficient and straightforward method to prepare nanosized zeolites. Yet, the mechanical breaking of zeolite causes amorphization, which usually requires a post-milling recrystallization to obtain fully crystalline nanoparticles. Herein we present a facile methodology to prepare zeolite nanocrystals, where milling and recrystallization can be performed in situ. A milling apparatus specially designed to work under conditions of high alkalinity and temperature enables the in situ recrystallization during milling. Taking zeolite A as an example, we demonstrate its size reduction from ~3 μm to 66 nm in 30 min, which is quite faster than previous methods reported. Three functions, viz., miniaturization, amorphization and recrystallization were found to tak2016-01-01T00:00:00Z2016 Jul2026-05-05T15:07:00.539Z2019-03-27T02:17:33ZS-EPMC49326012737814510.1038/srep29210