Facile synthesis of hollow zeolite microspheres through dissolution–recrystallization procedure in the presence of organosilanes

Abstract Hollow zeolite microspheres have been hydrothermally synthesized in the presence of organosilanes via a dissolution–recrystallization procedure. In the presence of organosilanes, zeolite particles with a core/shell structure formed at the first stage of hydrothermal treatment, then the core was consumed and recrystallized into zeolite framework to form the hollow structure during the second hydrothermal process. The influence of organosilanes was discussed, and a related dissolution–recrystallization mechanism was proposed. In addition, the hollow zeolite microspheres exhibited an obvious advantage in catalytic reactions compared to conventional ZSM-5 catalysts, such as in the alkylation of toluene with benzyl chloride.