Zeolite-geopolymer hybrid materials have been formed when kaolin was used as a starting material. Their characteristics are of interest because they can have a wide pore size distribution with micro- and meso-pores due to the zeolite and geopolymer, respectively. In this study, Zeolite-geopolymer hybrid bulk materials were fabricated using four kinds of kaolinitic clays (a halloysite and three kinds of kaolinite). The kaolinitic clays were first calcined at 700 °C for 3 h to transform into the amorphous aluminosilicate phases. Alkali-activation treatment of the metakaolin yielded bulk materials with different amounts and types of zeolite and different compressive strength. This study investigated the effects of the initial kaolinitic clays on the amount and types of zeolite in the resultant geopolymers as well as the strength of the bulk materials. The kaolinitic clays and their metakaolin were characterized by XRD analysis, chemical composition, crystallite size, ²⁹Si and ²⁷Al MAS NMR analysis, and specific surface area measurements. The correlation between the amount of zeolite formed and the compressive strength of the resultant hybrid bulk materials, previously reported by other researchers was not positively observed. In the studied systems, the effects of Si/Al and crystalline size were observed. When the atomic ratio of Si/Al in the starting kaolinitic clays increased, the compressive strength of the hybrid bulk materials increased. The crystallite size of the zeolite in the hybrid bulk materials increased with decreasing compressive strength of the hybrid bulk materials.

Composites obtained by bonding materials with the same crystal structure and different chemical compositions can create new functions that do not exist in conventional concepts. We have succeeded in bonding polycrystalline YAG and Nd:YAG ceramics without any interstices at the bonding interface, and the bonding state of this composite was at the atomic level, similar to the grain boundary structure in ceramics. The mechanical strength of the bonded composite reached 278 MPa, which was not less than the strength of each host material (269 and 255 MPa). Thermal conductivity of the composite was 12.3 W/mK (theoretical value) which is intermediate between the thermal conductivities of YAG and Nd:YAG (14.1 and 10.2 W/mK, respectively). Light scattering cannot be detected at the bonding interface of the ceramic composite by laser tomography. Since the scattering coefficients of the monolithic material and the composite material formed by bonding up to 15 layers of the same materials were both 0.10%/cm, there was no occurrence of light scattering due to the bonding. In addition, it was not detected that the optical distortion and non-uniformity of the refractive index variation were caused by the bonding. An excitation light source (LD = 808 nm) was collimated to 200 μm and irradiated into a commercial 1% Nd:YAG single crystal, but fracture damage occurred at a low damage threshold of 80 kW/cm². On the other hand, the same test was conducted on the bonded interface of 1% Nd:YAG-YAG composite ceramics fabricated in this study, but it was not damaged until the excitation density reached 127 kW/cm². 0.6% Nd:YAG-YAG composite ceramics showed high damage resistance (up to 223 kW/cm²). It was concluded that composites formed by bonding polycrystalline ceramics are ideal in terms of thermo-mechanical and optical properties.

Natural zeolite is widely used in removing ammonia via adsorption process because of its superior ion-exchange properties. Ceramic particle size affects the adsorptivity of particles toward ammonia. In this study, hollow fiber ceramic membrane (HFCM) was fabricated from natural zeolite via phase inversion. The effect of natural zeolite particle size toward the properties and performance of HFCM was evaluated. The results show that the HFCM with smaller particle sizes exhibited a more compact morphological structure with better mechanical strength. The adsorption performance of HFCM was significantly improved with smaller particle sizes because of longer residence time, as proven by the lower water permeability. A high adsorption performance of 96.67% was achieved for HFCM with the smallest particle size (36 μm). These findings provide a new perspective on the promising properties of the natural zeolite-derived HFCM for ammonia removal.

This research paper proposes the usage of a simple thermal treatment method to synthesis the pure and Eu³⁺ doped ZnO/Zn₂SiO₄ based composites which undergo calcination process at different temperatures. The effect of calcination temperatures on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnO/Zn₂SiO₄ based composites have been studied. The XRD analysis shows the existence of two major phases which are ZnO and Zn₂SiO₄ crystals and supported by the finding in the FT-IR. The FESEM micrograph further confirms the existence of both ZnO and Zn₂SiO₄ crystal phases, with progress in the calcination temperature around 700–800 °C which affects the existence of the necking-like shape particle. Absorption humps discovered through UV-Vis spectroscopy revealed that at the higher calcination temperature effects for higher absorption intensity while absorption bands can be seen at below 400 nm with dropping of absorption bands at 370–375 nm. Two types of band gap can be seen from the energy band gap analysis which occurs from ZnO crystal and Zn₂SiO₄ crystal progress. It is also discovered that for Eu³⁺ doped ZnO/Zn₂SiO₄ composites, the Zn₂SiO₄ crystal (5.11–4.71 eV) has a higher band gap compared to the ZnO crystal (3.271–4.07 eV). While, for the photoluminescence study, excited at 400 nm, the emission spectra of Eu³⁺ doped ZnO/Zn₂SiO₄ revealed higher emission intensity compared to pure ZnO/Zn₂SiO₄ with higher calcination temperature exhibit higher emission intensity at 615 nm with 700 °C being the optimum temperature. The emission spectra also show that the calcination temperature contributed to enhancing the emission intensity.