Hierarchical SAPO-11 preparation in the presence of glucose

•Hierarchical SAPO-11 molecular sieves are prepared in the presence of glucose.•Intercrystaline meso-structures are confirmed by SEM and TEM.•Carbon nanoshell and nanoparticles are responsible for the mesopores formation.

Glucose was used as a mesoporous structure directing agent to synthesize hierarchical porous silicoaluminophosphate molecular sieves with AEL topology (SAPO-11). Nanosized SAPO-11 with numerous mesopores were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N2 adsorption–desorption analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transimission electron microscopy (TEM) are employed to reveal that inter-crystallinic meso-structures were formed from the aggregation of nanosized crystallites. A proposed mesopore construction mechanism by the addition of glucose is presented based on Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and CHNS analysis.

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