Fibrous Intrinsic Zeolitic Pickering Interfacial Catalysts

Previously, our research group reported the preparation of stable Pickering emulsions using a zeolite with intrinsic amphiphilicity that required no surface grafting. Nevertheless, although the emulsification capability was intrinsic, the catalytic active sites (Pd metal nanoclusters) remained "extrinsic". In the present study, we successfully achieved both intrinsic emulsification and intrinsic catalysis using pristine MTT zeolite. The high anisotropy (anisotropy index = 23.2) and excellent dispersibility endowed the zeolite with favorable emulsifying performance, enabling the unmodified zeolite to effectively stabilize Pickering emulsions. Remarkably, Brønsted acid sites are naturally present in pristine raw-MTT zeolite. Therefore, we successfully realized the integration of both intrinsic emulsification and intrinsic catalytic functionality within the same zeolitic material, greatly simplifying catalyst design. We constructed a Pickering interfacial catalytic system using fibrous MTT zeolite for epoxide hydration ring opening. The catalyst affords nearly quantitative substrate conversion (99.9%) within 20 min, along with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 70 h-1. Furthermore, the MTT zeolite preserves considerable catalytic activity and high recovery efficiency over five successive reaction cycles.