Zeolite Crystal Growth: A High-Resolution Cryo-TEM Study

Investigating early stages of crystal growth in solution is of considerable fundamental and practical significance to various materials including zeolites. TPA-silicalite-1 (hereafter refer to as silicalite-1) is very often used as a model system. Here, we present a study of silicalite-1 crystallization by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). Our results show silicalite-1 crystal growth by aggregation of structurally diverse nanoparticles. The present study also demonstrates that zeolites can be imaged by cryo-TEM with structural resolution.