The silicon and aluminum atoms in the zeolite can be stripped from the framework with a stripping agent to form larger pore sizes, resulting in graded zeolites. The mesopore of zeolite formed by atomic removal is affected by many factors, including the type of remover, the silicon-aluminum ratio of zeolite, and the zeolite structure. Groen
et al. found that when using NaOH to desiliconize zeolite, the silicon atom in the zeolite with high silicon aluminum ratio was easily removed by NaOH, resulting in excessive destruction of zeolite framework (
Fig. 3A) [
51]. And zeolites with lower Si/Al ratio (Si/Al = 25–50) did not show this phenomenon, and mesoporous hierarchical structure was successfully formed. This is due to the fact that zeolites with a low Si/Al ratio contain more Al, which exists in the form of negatively charged AlO
4− tetrahedra. These negatively charged AlO
4− tetrahedra prevent OH
− from attacking the surrounding silicon atoms due to the repulsion of homogeneity. Abello
et al. compared the difference between organic hydroxides (tetrapropylammonium hydroxide, TPAOH, and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide, TBAOH. The organic bases in the following text refer specifically to these two organic alkalis.) and NaOH in removing silicon atoms from ZSM-5 zeolite, and concluded that organic alkali has two advantages: (1) In contrast to the rapid dissolution of the framework silicon in NaOH, the organic alkali is less reactive to silicon, which makes the desilication process easier to regulate; (2) The zeolite treated by organic alkali can directly produce mesoporous zeolite in the form of proton after calcination, while the zeolite obtained by NaOH needs to be ion-exchanged with ammonium salt to obtain mesoporous zeolite in the form of a proton [
52]. The main method of desilication is alkali treatment, while dealumination can be achieved by calcination steam or acid treatment. Otomo
et al. used calcination and steaming to remove Al atoms from zeolite, and observed the change of coordination number of EFAl by NMR, which proved the effectiveness of the two methods [
53]. In addition, steam dealumination is more efficient than calcination, because the presence of H
2O at high temperature and pressure can facilitate the hydrolysis of Si-O-Al bonds. Sheng
et al. conducted steam treatment on HZSM-5 zeolite at different temperatures, and found that the mesopore volume of HZSM-5 zeolite after steam treatment is 0.12 cm
3/g, while the mesopore volume of zeolite without steam treatment is only 0.07 cm
3/g [
54]. Del Campo
et al. also found that the shape of the zeolite can greatly affect the formation of mesopores [
55]. They used the desilication method to form the mesoporous hierarchical structure of the zeolite and found that this method worked well for the rod-shaped ZSM-22 zeolite, but only crystalline fragments were obtained by treating the needle-shaped zeolite in the same way. It is demonstrated that the alkali causes serious damage to the zeolite structure, and the zeolite framework has been disintegrated before the mesopores are formed. These results indicate the condition for atomic removal to form hierarchical zeolite is that the framework stability of zeolite is not destroyed by the removal agent. In addition, the concentration of the removal agent has also been proven to affect the generation of mesopores in zeolites. The more the concentration of the remover, the larger the pore volume of the zeolite formed. For example, ZSM-22 zeolite treated with 1.5 wt% HF has a mesopore volume of 0.295 cm
3/g, whereas the sample obtained by treating the same parent with 0.7 wt% HF has a mesopore volume of only 0.146 cm
3/g [
56].