Raman spectroscopy of water tracer diffusion in zeolite single crystals

The water tracer diffusion in single crystals of natrolite, scolecite, mesolite, heulandite, and chabazite has been studied by Raman micro-spectroscopy. A model of water tracer diffusion is proposed. The H₂O, HDO, and D₂O molecule concentrations are calculated for a crystal of orthorhombic symmetry on deuteration of the initial H₂O-sample. A way is shown to find the diffusion coefficients, the constant of equilibrium, and the deuteron-proton exchange rate from experimental data. The water diffusion coefficients for natrolite placed in liquid D₂O appeared to be 1.5–2 times higher than those for a sample in vaporous D₂O. For natrolite at room temperature, 1.5–1.6 times higher water diffusion occurs along 001] than along 110].