Recognizing the Minimum Structural Units Driving the Crystallization of SAPO-34 in a Top-Down Process.

Recognizing the structure and nature of the nuclei for zeolites crystallization on an atomic level is of great importance, which can provide guidance on the control of crystallization kinetics and the rational synthesis of zeolites. However, it remains a long-standing challenge due to the difficulty in characterization of amorphous precursor with limited crystal nuclei. Herein, a top-down synthesis system was designed for SAPO-34 molecular sieve and well investigated. A clear precursor solution with abundant SAPO-34 crystal nuclei was obtained under a depolymerization-dominant condition. The species in the liquid precursor were identified by FT-ICR MS, solid-state MAS NMR and atomic pair distribution function analyses. In combination with various designed experiments, it is revealed that both the formation of small species containing Si-O-Al bonds and reaching a certain concentration, is crucial for driving the crystallization of SAPO-34, rather than structural units with specific spatial conformation. This work provides an important understanding on the (pre)nucleation of SAPO-34 and sheds light on the synthesis control of SAPO molecular sieves.