Modulating inherent lewis acidity at the intergrowth interface of mortise-tenon zeolite catalyst

The acid sites of zeolite are important local structures to control the products in the chemical conversion. However, it remains a great challenge to precisely design the structures of acid sites, since there are still lack the controllable methods to generate and identify them with a high resolution. Here, we use the lattice mismatch of the intergrown zeolite to enrich the inherent Lewis acid sites (LASs) at the interface of a mortise-tenon ZSM-5 catalyst (ZSM-5-MT) with a 90° intergrowth structure. ZSM-5-MT is formed by two perpendicular blocks that are atomically resolved by integrated differential phase contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (iDPC-STEM). It can be revealed by various methods that novel framework-associated Al (Al FR ) LASs are generated in ZSM-5-MT. Combining the iDPC-STEM results with other characterizations, we demonstrate that the partial missing of O atoms at interfaces results in the formation of inherent Al FR LASs in ZSM-5-MT. As a result, the ZSM-5-MT catalyst shows a higher selectivity of propylene and butene than the single-crystal ZSM-5 in the steady conversion of methanol. These results provide an efficient strategy to design the Lewis acidity in zeolite catalysts for tailored functions via interface engineering. The acid sites are important local structures to determine catalytic performances of zeolites. Here, the authors expand the interface engineering to the field of porous zeolites through the lattice mismatch of the intergrown zeolite to enrich the inherent Lewis acid sites at the interface of a mortise-tenon ZSM-5 catalyst.