One-step synthesis of nanorod-aggregated functional hierarchical iron-containing MFI zeolite microspheres

Abstract

Novel hierarchical iron-containing MFI zeolite microspheres composed of oriented-assembled nanorods were prepared through a one-step hydrothermal crystallization without a mesoporous template agent. This is the first report on constructing functional hierarchical zeolite microspheres with aggregated MFI nanorods and well-dispersed α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles by adding glucose into the synthetic system. The obtained samples were characterized by powder XRD, N₂ physical adsorption–desorption, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, XPS spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The results show that the microspheres possess uniform diameters from 4 to 5 μm, a hierarchical porous structure, a high surface area (502 m² g⁻¹), and well-dispersed ultrafine α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles. More importantly, the microspheres have been shown to have an excellent catalytic performance for the photocatalytic degradation of phenol. Thus, this synthesis method opens up routes for the in situ preparation of other functional porous materials with unique nanostructures.