Reaction rate enhancement by reducing surface diffusion barriers of guest molecules over ZSM-5 zeolites: a structured illumination microscopy study

Mass transfer of guest molecules is crucial for zeolite catalysis. Compared to intracrystalline diffusion, the surface barriers in zeolite catalysis have been less understood. Taking furfuryl alcohol oligomerization catalyzed by ZSM-5 zeolites as model reaction, here we present a single-crystal level study and gain insight into the surface barriers induced spatiotemporal evolution of oligomer products using structured illumination microscopy (SIM). It is shown that, as a result of the enhanced accessibility to zeolite crystals, promoting the surface permeability leads to the increase in catalytic reaction rate that is characterized as the generation rate of oligomer products.