ZSM-5 nanosheets are promising catalysts for the catalytic
reactions
controlled by diffusion limitations. This study reveals its significant
application in the alkylation of benzene with methanol. The b-axis-oriented ZSM-5 nanosheets with similar acid property
but varied thicknesses of about 30, 90, and 300 nm were prepared to
investigate the effect of thickness on their catalytic properties
for alkylation reactions. Comparative results demonstrate that the
sample with a thickness of 30 nm exhibits higher benzene conversion,
xylene selectivity, and methyl selectivity (up to 97%), accompanied
by an ultralong lifetime (up to 1000 h, 10 times longer than that
of the sample with a thickness of 300 nm) and lower byproduct ethylbenzene
selectivity. This is ascribed to the shortened straight channel length,
increased specific surface area, and enlarged mesopore volume that
significantly facilitate the diffusion of reactants and products,
increase the accessibility of acid sites, and decrease the coke formation.
Moreover, compared with conventional ZSM-5 nanocrystals, ZSM-5 nanosheets
deliver a substantially extended lifetime due to fewer framework defects.
Most significantly, this study unravels the diffusion effect on ethylbenzene
selectivity over ZSM-5 nanosheets with different thicknesses and illustrates
the role of strong Brønsted acid sites in the dynamic changes
of ethylbenzene selectivity. In light of the above analysis, we developed
a precoking strategy and an introducing-heteroatom strategy to precisely
tailor the catalyst acidity, further suppressing the ethylbenzene
formation (<0.3%) while maintaining long-term stable operation
(>300 h).