Understanding Commonalities and Interplay Between Organotemplate‐Free Zeolite Synthesis, Hierarchical Structure Creation, and Interzeolite Transformation

Zeolites are crystalline microporous materials that have been widely used in many applications related to industrial catalysis, ion‐exchange, and adsorption. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on the development of green chemistry toward more sustainable zeolite synthesis routes. Considerable efforts have been devoted to identifying alternative approaches in order to reduce the negative impacts of organic templates. This review will focus on the significant progress achieved during the past decade on the development of novel organotemplate‐free strategies through three distinctive topics, i. e. zeolite synthesis, hierarchical zeolite synthesis, and interzeolite transformation. The progress of each topic will be documented, followed by a summary of the intriguing commonalities and interplay among these approaches. The insights into the mechanism and interplay leading to different zeolite materials will enable us to understand the requirements for designing novel zeolite catalysts and catalyst supports in an organotemplate‐free environment that are likely to further enhance the industrial impact of these materials in the future. We conclude this article with a perspective and outlook focusing on current trends and future directions in this area.