Synthesis of nanosized TS-1 zeolites through solid transformation method with unprecedented low usage of tetrapropylammonium hydroxide

• Nano TS-1 zeolites have been prepared via a solid transformation method with theoretical usage of TPAOH.
• This strategy reduces the costs of TS-1 zeolites dramatically by lowering the usage of TPAOH.
• This nano zeolite show good catalytic capacities to epoxidation of 1-hexene.

Nanosized TS-1 zeolites have been successfully synthesized in ultralow molar ratio of tetrapropylammonium hydroxide/silica (TPAOH/SiO2) by solid transformation process, where the molar ratio of TPAOH/SiO2 could be reduced to 0.05. The resulting samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, SEM and N2 adsorption to evaluate the textural properties. The obtained TS-1 is about 100–400 nm particles composed of 50 nm primary crystallites with high surface areas (426 m2 g−1). This nanosized TS-1 zeolite exhibits excellent catalytic oxidation performance in epoxidation of 1-hexene by H2O2. Compared with conventional hydrothermal route, this solid transformation strategy avoids the usage of solvent in the crystallization process. Especially, the usage of silica gel as raw materials and lowering the amounts of TPAOH to theoretical value reduces the costs of TS-1 zeolites dramatically.

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