Engineering Dandelion-Like Hollow TS-1@SiO 2 : Structural Design and Oxidation Application

Inspired via the dandelion structure which has multi-dimensional channels facilitating the transport of fluids, bilayer TS-1@dandelion-SiO 2 and hollow HTS@dandelion-SiO 2 were successfully synthesized via an hydrothermal strategy including core TS-1 or HTS particles synthesis and an epitaxial growth of regular SiO 2 shell. TS-1@dandelion-SiO 2 or hollow HTS@dandelion-SiO 2 possessed a ca. 300 nm core with ca. 100–200 nm of SiO 2 shell with perpendicular channels, this hierarchical structure facilitated reactants/products transportation, and the structured SiO 2 shell triggered the size of TS-1 or HTS and increased to ~ 800 nm, which was beneficial for nanosized crystals separation and recovery from the reaction system. Particularly, the epitaxial SiO 2 shell increased Lewis acid sties on TS-1 and HTS external surface enhancing cyclohexene conversion. Further, the relationship between SiO 2 shell morphology and catalytic activity was explored through the synthesis of HTS@inordinance-SiO 2 with irregular SiO 2 shell indicating the superiority of oriented channels originated from regular SiO 2 shell. Graphical Abstract