Facile synthesis of mesostructured ZSM-5 zeolite with enhanced mass transport and catalytic performances

A mesostructured ZSM-5 zeolite with multilamellar structure was successfully synthesized by employing a tetra-headgroup rigid bolaform quaternary ammonium surfactant. It was characterized by powder Xray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, amines temperature programmed desorption (amines-TPD), and computer simulation. These results indicated that the dual-functional amphiphilic surfactants play a critical role for directing the multilamellar structure with high mesoporosity. The mass transport and catalytic performances of the zeolite were investigated by zero length column (ZLC) technique and aldol condensation reactions to evaluate the structure-property relationship. These results clearly indicated that the mass transport of selected molecules in hierarchical zeolite can be accelerated by introducing mesoporous structure with mesostructure with reduced diffusion length and an overall enhanced resistance against deactivation in reactions involving large molecules. Furthermore, the dual-functional surfactant approach of making hierarchical zeolite with MFI nanosheets framework would open up new opportunities for design and synthesis of hierarchical zeolites with controllable mesoporous structures. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.