HZSM-5 crystals with short straight
channels possess the advantages
of easier diffusion and less coke formation in petrochemical processes.
In this work, aggregated ZSM-5 zeolite assembled by regularly stacked
nanosheet-like crystals with a b-axis thickness of
60 nm was synthesized using specially designed silicate-1 as seed.
Silicate-1 (S-2) was synthesized using relatively lower cost silica
sol as a silica source, tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPABr) as a structure-directing
agent (SDA), and ethylamine as an assistant compared with traditional
silicate-1 (S-1: tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a silica source
and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) as an SDA). When S-2 seeds
were added into the synthesis system, the seeds could limit the crystal
growth along the b-axis direction under the assistance
of ethylamine. Meanwhile, the adjacent ZSM-5 nanosheet crystals would
spontaneously stack together. The catalyst Zn/S-2-1 exhibited relatively
higher n-hexane conversion and selectivity of benzene,
toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) as well as catalytic stability
in contrast to the catalyst synthesized using S-1 as seed when being
used in the n-hexane aromatization reaction. This
work opened up a new prospective for ZSM-5 aggregates assembled from
the nanosheet catalyst design in the application of hydrocarbon aromatization.