Zeolites are microporous solids that act as catalysts and absorbents for the biochemical, petrochemical, and fine chemical industries. Their porous structure and unique chemical properties allow for an incredibly wide range of applications ranging from chemical synthesis, separation, ion conduction, to wastewater management. They are also critical for production of petrochemicals and yield a significant portion of the world’s propylene for the polymer industry.

In recent years, extremely thin zeolite nanosheets (ZNs) have been synthesized with very high aspect ratios which maximize the accessibility of active catalytic and absorbing sites while minimizing diffusion lengths. These two-dimensional ZNs exhibit significantly enhanced catalytic performance and molecular and ionic separation efficiency. However, demonstration of these claims has only been made on very small sample sizes due to the lack of methods for efficient synthesis of flat ZNs.