Simplified synthesis of isomorphously nickel substituted ZSM-5

Isomorphously nickel-substituted nano-crystalline ZSM-5 is synthesized in the absence of acidic aqueous fluoride medium incorporating simple and low-cost metal inorganic salt precursor NiCl2.6H2O instead of large organic cationic salt like bis (tetraethyl ammonium) tetrachloronickelate (II) with less water quantity to minimize the synthesis waste. PXRD, FT-IR, TG/DTG, XPS, UV–Vis DRS, SEM, TEM, ICP and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques were used to confirm the presence of nano-crystalline material having a MFI structure and heteroatom substitution. The unit cell dimensions increase with increasing levels of nickel substitution. The crystallite size of as synthesized samples was in the range of 60–75 nm, which increased to 60–160 nm after calcination at 550°C. Percentage crystallinity and crystallite size increases with increasing nickel substitution level up to 0.17 mol and beyond that the material becomes amorphous.