Recent advances in the imidazolium-based ionic liquid-templated synthesis of microporous zeolites

Zeolites are one of the most important materials in the family of solid catalysts. Research on zeolite synthesis via designing new structure-directing agents (SDAs) is gaining continuous attention. Ionic liquid is a promising SDA for zeolite synthesis due to its great potential in achieving ambient-pressure synthesis and new zeolite types. This review assesses the currently successful zeolite syntheses using imidazolium-based ionic liquids as the SDAs. It evaluates the structure-directing role of ionic liquids on the zeolite types, which are systematically analyzed according to their membered ring sizes. By providing a snapshot of the recent advances in ionic liquid-templated microporous zeolite synthesis, this review captures the rational design of zeolites and gives insights into the exploration of new zeolite types.