Measurement of Xenon Distribution Statistics in Na-a Zeolite Cavities

Xe-129 NMR spectroscopy has been used to probe directly the distribution of xenon atoms confined in atomic-size Na-A zeolite cavities. For mean xenon occupancies less than about three Xe atoms per a-cage, the guest populations are well described by binomial statistics. At higher guest loadings the finite volumes of the xenon atoms become significant, as reflected by a fit of the experimental populations with a hypergeometric distribution, with a maximum of seven Xe atoms per cage. At the highest xenon loadings the experimental distribution is narrower than hypergeometric, as predicted by Monte Carlo simulations.