Structure Determination of Zeolites by Electron Crystallography

Abstract

Electron crystallography has shown to be an important method for structural characterization of zeolites. Electron crystallography is a method which comprises several important advantages over other characterization methods. With the electron as a probe, single-crystal diffraction data can be obtained from crystals million times smaller than what is possible with X-ray methods today. This is an important advantage especially for zeolites since they are often obtained as very small crystals. Electrons also enable the formation of images of a specimen with the atomic resolution. This is of essential importance when studying materials that are very complex or contain disorder. Over the years electron crystallography has been used for structure determination of zeolites. Through methodological advances during the last few years, it has evolved into an even more powerful method with crucial importance for structure determination. This chapter gives an introduction to electron crystallography and various electron crystallographic methods and their combinations with other methods used for structure determination of zeolite materials. Different routes for structure determination are described through examples from recently reported structure determinations.