The solid-state ion exchange (SSIE) of H-ZSM-5 by CuCl vapor was investigated with the objectiveof establishing the effects of the temperature at which exchange is carried out on the level of pro
tonexchange for Cu
+, the position of the Cu
+ cations relative
to the zeolite lattice, and the extent of CuClocclusion in the zeolite pores. After SSIE, the resulting Cu-ZSM-5 was characterized by XRD,
27AlMAS NMR, infrared spectroscopy, H
2-TPR, and Cu and Cl K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy.Evidence was found for clusters of CuCl, in addition
to Cu
+ cations present at zeolite cation-exchangepositions (ZCu). It was also observed that a part of the occluded CuCl is hydrolyzed
to Cu
2O duringSSIE. The distribution of ZCu, CuCl, and Cu
2O was a strong function of the temperature at which cationexchange was carried out. Virtually complete exchange of all Br
nsted acid pro
tons for Cu
+ cations wasachieved at a SSIE temperature of 1023 K. No loss of framework Al was observed at this temperature,and only 10% of the copper introduced in
to the zeolite was occluded as CuCl. The Cu
+ cations exchangedfor Br
nsted acid pro
tons are both doubly and triply coordinated
to O a
toms, with an average Cu-Obond distance of 1.98 Å. Cu EXAFS and Cl XANES indicated that CuCl is occluded in the form of(CuCl)
n (
n = 2, 3, 4) clusters in the channels and intersections of the zeolite. With a decrease in theamount of occluded CuCl, the amount of Cu
2O formed by hydrolysis during SSIE decreases substantially.