Effect of Si/Al Ratio on the Catalytic Activity of Two‐Dimensional MFI Nanosheets

What is it about?

2D MFI nanosheets have higher catalytic activities as compared to conventional MFI. However, the effect of the acid site density, controlled by the Si/Al ratio, has not been explored for these 2D MFI nanosheets. We probed this parameter using a model reaction (Friedel-Crafts alkylation of mesitylene with benzyl alcohol) to understand the its impact and also deconvoluted the activities of the external and micropore acid sites.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that increasing the acid site density reduces the activity of each acid site as demonstrated by a decreasing turnover frequency. We have also shown that this effect is mainly due to the crowding of reactant molecules in the internal (micropore) acid sites.