The synthesis of nanosized zeolites has attracted significant attention due to their superior properties for applications varying from catalysis to adsorption. Often the ability to generate the nanosized zeolites is dependent upon the use of large quantities of an organic structure-directing agent (OSDA), resulting in high preparation costs. Herein, we report the synthesis of nanosized beta zeolite using an ethanol-assisted strategy with extremely low OSDA concentration (OSDA/SiO2 = 0.1) under low alkalinity system. Our findings reveal that ethanol significantly stabilizes the crystalline phase, which correlates with the observed slower nucleation and higher TEA+ incorporation into the zeolite framework. Furthermore, the evolution of the amorphous precursor suggests a solid-state reorganization mechanism, which restricts the fusion and growth of precursor particles. Benefiting from its enhanced external surface area and reduced microporous diffusion length, the nanosized beta zeolite exhibits outstanding catalytic performance in the alkylation of benzene with benzyl alcohol, compared to both conventional bulky beta and commercially available nanosized beta zeolites.
Liu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.