Tailoring the pore architecture and acidity of hierarchical IWR zeolites directed by choline cation

Abstract Hierarchical zeolites with different scale of pores have become a highly evolving field of important current interests. Herein, hierarchical aluminogermanosilicate IWR zeolites are prepared with the Si/Al molar ratio ranging from 25 to 200 using cheap and commercially available choline cation as organic structure-directing agent (OSDA). The IWR zeolites consist of self-pillared or so-called “house-of-cards” nanosheet crystals, with typical thickness of 15 ~ 80 nm, length of 190 ~ 440 nm and width of 75 ~ 200 nm. The stacking of these nanosheets generates micro–meso hierarchical pore architecture. With the increasing of Al content, zeolite crystals become smaller in size and thus the mesopore volume rises to higher level. IWR zeolites possess both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites. Meanwhile, the concentration and strength of acid sites are promoted by the incorporation of more Al atoms into the framework.