Super-micropore/small mesopore composite pillared silicate and aluminosilicate materials from crystalline layered silicate Na-RUB-18

We describe the preparation of pillared silicate and aluminosilicate materials with porosity that combines supermicropores and small mesopores. The materials consist of a pillared material that is intercalated within and surrounded by one or several layers of the layered silicate RUB-18. The crystallinity of the RUB-18 is retained when templating surfactant molecules that direct formation of the porous material in the inter-layer region of the host Na-RUB-18 silicate are removed via extraction with acidified ethanol or oxidation using H2O2. Calcination, on the other hand generates ordered porous materials that do not exhibit any crystallinity. The porosity of the expanded materials was found to be stable to hydrothermal treatment (i.e., refluxing in water). On calcination, pillared materials that were previously extracted or oxidized, were also found to retain their porosity.

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► Pillared silicate or aluminosilicate RUB-18 materials with pores of size 12–28 Å.
► Pillared inter-layer space surrounded by one or several collapsed RUB-18 layers.
► Porosity of pillared aluminosilicate materials is stable to hydrothermal treatment.
► Ratio of supermicropores to small mesopores changes with Al content of pillars.