Facile synthesis of mesoporous aluminosilicates constructed with crystalline microporous frameworks

A hierarchically micro-mesoporous structured ZSM-5 zeolite has been synthesized from assembly of aluminosilcate species with a tetra-quaternary ammonium type surfactant, in which the surfactant acts as two-level structure-directing templates for generating micropores and mesopores simultaneously. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, 27Al magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis and Quantum chemical calculation. X-ray diffraction as well as nitrogen sorption analyses indicated the dual-porosity of samples, one is from intra-crystalline micropores, and the other is from mesopores. Quantum chemical calculation results showed that the inner ammonium groups of surfactant had more higher molecular degrees of freedom for the zeolite-structure-directing function. Moreover, on the basis of the same concept, this method could be extended to investigate other hierarchically structured zeolites.