SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SODIUM ALUMINIUM SILICATE HYDRATE NANOCRYSTALS

Sodium aluminium silicate hydrate nanocrystals have been successfully prepared through Co-precipitation method. The effect of temperature, time, precursor and a key role of aluminium source on the sodium aluminium silicate hydrate nanocrystals properties was explored in this work. The Na6(AlSiO4)6.8H2O nanocrystals obtained were systematically characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-visible spectroscopy and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The XRD result revealed that the prepared sample possess a Nanocrystals structure which was cubic in structure and it was found that the average crystallite size was ~17 nm. UV-Vis analysis also confirms that the prepared particles was also nano in size. The morphology of the prepared sample was investigated by SEM which showed that the particles prepared was spherical in shape and was confirmed by HR-TEM. Further, the prepared samples were characterized by PL for its luminescence property and TG-DSC for its thermal stability.