Hard coke blockage of micropores of acidic zeolites generally causes serious catalytic deactivation for many chemical processes. Herein, we report a facile method to synthesize H-mordenite nanosheet assemblies without using any template agent. The assemblies exhibit the high catalytic activity for carbonylation of dimethyl ether because of their large quantity of framework Brønsted acids. The specific morphology of the nanosheet unites improves mass diffusion for both reactants and products. Consequently, the coke precursor species can readily migrate from the micropores to the external surface of the assemblies, inducing the improved catalytic stability through inhibiting hard coke formation in frameworks.
Keywords: H-mordenite; assembly; carbonylation; coke deposition; diffusion; dimethyl ether; nanosheet; zeolite.