Synthesis of b-oriented MFI nanosheets with high-aspect ratio by suppressing intergrowth with 2D GO nanosheets

High-aspect ratio b-oriented MFI nanosheets are synthesized by simply adding a suitable amount of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets into a multilamellar MFI zeolite crystallization system. The GO nanosheets, serving as the building blocks for oriented attachment and in situ nucleation sites, positively induce the silicalite-1 nanosheet crystallization process and confine the over-growth of MFI crystals during the subsequent preparation. A two-dimensional (2D) induction mechanism of the GO nanosheets is discussed for the generation of the b-oriented MFI nanosheets. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), nitrogen adsorption, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).