ABSTRACT

A technique has been developed that allows real time in situ monitoring of hydrothermal reactions using energy dispersive X-ray powder diffraction. A high pressure cell has been specially designed for this purpose. A number of hydrothermal reactions have been studied including the formation of zeolites X and Y, aluminophosphates (pyH)H₂Al₂P₃O₁₂ [py=pyridine] and ALPO-5 and the microporous tin sulfide (TMA) ₂ Sn ₃ S ₇ [TMA=tetramethyl ammonium]. Good quality spectra have been obtained using acquisition times of less than 5 minutes, allowing the extraction of kinetic and mechanistic information about the growth of hydrothermal phases as they are formed.