Facile synthesis of bifunctional Sn–B-self-pillared MFI zeolite nanosheets as highly selective catalyst for sucrose conversion to fructose

Herein, a bifunctional self-pillared MFI nanosheets zeolite (Sn-B-SPP) is designed to achieve the highly selective conversion of sucrose to fructose, which is significant for utilization of the nature abundant sucrose. This Sn- and B-containing SPP zeolite was prepared through a facile solid-state ion exchange approach based on a B-SPP, which overcomes the difficulty of direct nucleation. Sn-B-SPP possesses the structural advantages of ultra-thin intergrown nanosheets materials such as high external surface area, extremely short diffusion length and highly exposed active sites, which are conducive for the conversion of bulky substrates. Meanwhile, the concerted Lewis acidity and weak Brønsted acidity are essential for the sucrose conversion in alcohol, achieving a 77.0% fructose yield in 4 h after hydrolysis, far surpassing the performance of its microporous analogue and conventional hierarchical Sn–B-MFI.