A nickel-phyllosilicate core-echinus catalyst via a green and base additive free hydrothermal approach for hydrogenation reactions.

We report a new hydrothermal and basic-additive free process for synthesizing a core(single-crystalline HBEA zeolite)-echinus(nickel phyllosilicate) catalyst, which exhibits excellent reactivity and stability for hydrogenation reactions. Desilication and dealumination processes generate substantial SiO32- ions and exposed Si-OH groups to form nickel phyllosilicate on the external and internal surfaces of zeolite.