Study of distribution of nanocrystals of Ag in natural clinoptilolite

The natural zeolite Ag-natural clinoptilolite supporting silver clusters is a very promising inorganic bactericide and antiviral material. The distribution of the crystals size of Ag and the variation of its mean size in natural clinoptilolite as function of the reduction temperature (tr) is reported using X - ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The XRD and TEM studies have proved that the reduction of the Ag - natural clinoptilolite samples in H-2 flow for 2.5h at 100 degrees C guarantees the formation of clusters and nanoparticles of Ag with a mean size of 4 nm, achieving in this way the largest uniformity of particle size within the group of studied samples.