An alternate method to synthesize zeolites for biological applications

Zeolites find use in various applications in biological/medical field where the majority of them were prepared using Cetrimonium Bromide (CTAB), Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and fly ash as binders. In this work, two new zeolites were prepared by using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as binder starting from aluminium nitrate nonahydrate (ANN) and tetraethylortho silicate (TEOS) through sol-gel technique. The resultant zeolites were compared with the one synthesized using CTAB as binder. Zeolites prepared using PEG was found to be polycrystalline with an average grain size of 0.5-1nm by X-ray analysis. The new zeolites were characterized using SEM, XRD, EDAX and FTIR analysis. The zeolites prepared were comparable with those used in biological applications.