Atom-Economic Synthesis of Zeolites

Zeolites are typically synthesized in the presence of strong alkaline or fluoride species, which is not atom-economic for zeolite synthesis due to the high solubility of strong alkaline and fluoride species to silica. One of the solutions for this issue is to reduce solubility of silica in the zeolite synthesis, but it is challenging. Herein, we show that nucleation and growth of zeolites can occur under near neutral conditions, giving an atom-economical synthesis of zeolites with almost full silica utilization due to very low silica solubility. Compared to conventional hydrothermal synthesis, this work both enhances the zeolite yield and reduces waste emissions, even water zero emission. Particularly, structural defects (terminal silanols) in zeolites are obviously lowered, thus giving high thermal and hydrothermal stabilities and good performance in the Beckmann rearrangement.