Research on hierarchical zeolites from the group of Javier Pérez-Ramírez reaches the cover in Advanced Functional Materials

The article Tailored mesoporosity development in zeolite crystals by partial detemplation and desilication (Adv. Funct. Mater. 2009, 19, 164-172), co-authored by Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Sònia Abelló, Adriana Bonilla, and Johan C. Groen, has been highlighted on the front-cover of Advanced Functional Materials on issue 1.The team of Pérez-Ramírez has demonstrated that partial detemplation followed by desilication in alkaline media is a powerful and elegant approach for the design of hierarchical zeolites with a tailored degree of mesoporosity. This achievement, illustrated for large beta crystals, is based on the distinct capability of NaOH to extract silicon in template-containing or template-free regions of the zeolite. The introduced mesoporosity enhances the effectiveness of zeolitic materials in catalysis due to shorter diffusion lengths.