A dandelion-like SAPO-11 with multiple branches was fabricated by seed-induced steam-assisted conversion (SISAC), which combined an in situ inoculating seed method (in this case, the initial gel was pre-crystallized at 433 K for 24 h) and steam-assisted conversion (SAC) process. The dandelion-like SAPO-11 was fully crystalline and exhibited more acidity, external surface and mesopore volume compared with conventional hydrothermally crystallized SAPO-11, confirmed by Ar adsorption–desorption, pyridine-adsorbed infrared (Py-IR), 2,6-dimethylpyridine-adsorbed infrared (2,6-DMPy-IR) and NH3 temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD). After loading Pt nanoparticles by incipient wetness impregnation, the morphological modification (benefiting from smaller nanobranches and introducing more external surface active sites) leads to enhanced heptane hydroisomerization activity of the dandelion-like Pt/SAPO-11 as great as 15.4% higher in comparison with a conventional Pt/SAPO-11 catalyst.
