One-Step Preparation of Zeolite Silicalite-1 Microspheres with Adjustable Macroporosity

A facile one-step method was developed for the preparation of zeolite silicalite-1 (or ZSM-5) microspheres without the need of pre-synthesizing zeolite nanocrystals. In this method, Pluronic triblock copolymer F127 was added into a homogeneous silicalite-1 synthesis solution. During the hydrothermal synthesis, zeolite nanocrystals (similar to 100 nm) were formed and spontaneously assembled into uniform micrometer-sized (3-5 mu m) spheres due to the presence of F127. The obtained microspheres possess significant textual porosity (up to 0.24 cm(3)/g), which can be adjusted by simply adding different amounts of styrene in the synthesis. The zeolite microspheres are useful for enzyme immobilization, and the enzyme loading is proportional to the textual porosity.