THE CLUSTERS CD22+ AND CD42+ IN ZEOLITE A

Abstract The sorption of the vapour of elemental cadmium and zinc into Cd 2+ ion-exchanged zeolite A leads to the formation of two cluster cations Cd 2 2+ and Cd 4 2+ . Raman bands at 29, 81 and 114 cm −1 are assigned to a Cd 4 2+ cluster; the less abundant Cd 2 2+ is identified by its UV band at 226 nm. These Cd x 2+ clusters are promising building blocks for the fabrication of heavy-metal atomic-scale quantum wires in the intracrystalline voids and channels of zeolite hosts.