One-step synthesis of hierarchical pentasil zeolite microspheres using diamine with linear carbon chain as single template

Hierarchical zeolite microspheres were synthesized via a one-step method using a diamine with a linear carbon chain as the single template, where no secondary template and additives were added. The obtained microspheres possessed significant textual porosity (up to 0.24 cm³ g^-1), which was tuneable by carefully choosing diamines with different length hydrocarbon chains and the amount of aluminium in the synthetic mixture. The zeolite microspheres not only possessed high activities in catalytic applications but also curtailed to some extent filtration difficulties in their preparation and application. During the hydrothermal synthesis, zeolite nanocrystals (50 nm) were formed and spontaneously assembled into uniform microspheres in size of 5-8 μm following a particle-particle aggregation mechanism.