Synthesis and some properties of titanium-containing silica gels

Microporous silica gels containing small amounts of titanium ions have been synthesized. Porous structure and surface active sites of silica gels have been studied. It has been found that the titanium ions are distributed uniformly in silica gel matrix, substituting silicon ions isomorphically.     

凝胶法制备条件对载体硅胶孔结构的影响

以水玻璃、硫酸为原料采用凝胶法制备了烯烃环氧化催化剂载体硅胶,为探讨制备条件对硅胶孔结构的影响,采用物理吸附仪对不同条件下制备的硅胶进行了表征,结果表明:溶胶pH值、老化温度和老化时间、氨水pH值对硅胶孔结构影响显著,当溶胶pH值为1.5,在80℃下用pH 10.5的氨水浸泡老化凝胶2 h,所得硅胶的比表面积在300 m2.g-1左右,孔径和孔容分别在9.71 nm和0.92 cm3.g-1以上,以此硅胶为载体制得的非均相催化剂Ti/SiO2对于氯丙烯和环己基过氧化氢的环氧化反应具有明显的催化活性。     

Changes in texture of ultramicroporous Zr/silica gels as a result of hydrothermal treatment

A study has been made of the hydrothermal modification of Zr/silica gels containing up to 4.3% ZrO₂ by weight, with pore sizes smaller than 0.69 nm. It has been established that silica gels become more resistant to hydrothermal treatment as the content of zirconium ions is increased.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 259–263, July–August, 1995.     

Morphology and dispersion control of titania–silica monolith with macro–meso pore system

Macroporous gels with bicontinuous morphology in micrometer range were prepared in a titania?Csilica system containing 5 and 7.6 mass?% titania using tetraethoxysilane and four kinds of Ti precursors, two titanium alkoxides, titanium chloride and titanium sulfate, under coexistence of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with an average molecular weight of 20,000. In all the systems with different Ti precursors, the addition of PEG induced phase separation, and the macroporous morphology was formed when the transitional structure of phase separation was frozen-in by sol?Cgel transition of inorganic components. However, we can see large differences in phase separation tendency and Ti dispersion in silica network depending on the Ti precursors used. When titanium alkoxides were added into pure silica sol?Cgel system, phase separation tendency largely decreased, so that low temperature reaction was necessary for macropore formation. When we used titanium salts, on the other hand, phase separation tendency does not change much from pure silica system. The difference has been tentatively attributed to the difference in the mixing level of Ti in silica network. Although titania tended to aggregate when titanium alkoxides were used as precursors, Ti could be well dispersed in silica gel matrix when acetylacetone was added in the alkoxide system or when titanium salts were used as Ti precursors.     

Photophysical Properties of Lanthanide (Eu3+, Tb3+) Hybrid Soft Gels of Double Functional Linker of Ionic Liquid–Modified Silane

Four kinds of luminescent hybrid soft gels have been assembled by introducing the lanthanide (Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺) tetrakis β‐diketonate into the covalently bonded imidazolium‐based silica through electrostatic interactions. Here, the imidazolium‐based silica matrices are prepared from imidazolium‐derived organotriethoxysilanes by the sol–gel process, in which the imidazolium cations are strongly anchored within the silica matrices while anions can still be exchanged following application for functionalization of lanthanide complexes. The photoluminescence measurements indicated that these hybrid soft gels exhibit characteristic red and green luminescence originating from the corresponding ternary lanthanide ions (Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺). Further investigation of photophysical properties reveals that these soft gels have inherited the outstanding luminescent properties from the lanthanide tetrakis β‐diketonate complexes such as strong luminescence intensities, long lifetimes and high luminescence quantum efficiencies.     

Luminescence properties of sol-gel derived silica gels doped and undoped with RE-complexes(RE=Eu,Tb)

The luminescence properties of silica gels and silica gels doped with two rare earth complexes,Eu(TTA)3 and Tb(o-CBA)3 (TTA=thenoyltrifluocetate,o-CBA=o-chlorobenzoic acid) are reported and discussed.Pure silica gels show a blue luminescence,and the maximum excitation and emission wavelengths depend strongly on the solvents used.Both of the studied rare earth complexes exhibit the characteristic emissions of the rare earth ions in silica gels,i.e.,Eu3+5 Do→7 FJ(J=0,1,2,3,4),Tb3+5D4→7FJ(J=3,4,5,6) transitions.Compared with the pure RE-complexes powder,the silica gels doped with RE-complexes show fewer emission lines of the rare earth ions.Furthermore the rare earth ion (Tb3+) presents a longer lifetime (1346μs) in silica gel doped with Tb(o-CBA)3 than in pure Tb(o-CBA)3 powder (744μs).The reasons responsible for these results are discussed in the context.     

Determination of Ag(I), Hg(II) and Pb(II) by using silica gel loaded with dithizone and zinc dithizonate

The modified sorbents with dithizone and zinc dithizonate adsorbed on the silica surface were obtained. The adsorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions onto loaded silicas was studied. Color scales for Ag(I), Hg(II) and Pb(II) visual test detection were worked out. The modified silica gels were established to be applicable to semi-quantitative determination of these metal ions in buttermilk, natural, mineral and waste water.     

Preparation of ion-imprinted silica gels functionalized with glycine, diglycine, and triglycine and their adsorption properties for copper ions

We report a new procedure for modifying the surface of silica gels with glycine, diglycine, and triglycine in the presence of copper ions to create a new type of copper-imprinted sorbent, which exhibits a high adsorption capacity and selectivity for copper ions. Our results show that copper adsorbed onto the copper-imprinted silica gel is 50% higher than that on nonimprinted silica gel at pH 4.5. The high adsorption capacity observed for the copper-imprinted silica gel is attributed to the stable copper complexes formed with two adjacent glycine, diglycine, or triglycine molecules with proper intermolecular distances obtained from the ion-imprinting procedure. Another possible reason for the high adsorption capacity is that the ion-imprinting procedure prevents the surface from being overcrowded; therefore, copper ions can form very stable 1:1 complexes with immobilized diglycine or triglycine. Interestingly, the imprinting effect is even more pronounced when the adsorption experiments are conducted in the presence of competing metal ions such as magnesium and calcium. The copper-imprinted silica gel exhibits a higher adsorption capacity than does the nonimprinted silica gel for all pH values, even when the concentrations of magnesium and calcium are 50 and 76 times higher than the concentration of copper.     

Extraction of copper ions using silica gel with chemically modified surface

The applicability of silica gels for the application in solid-phase extraction was tested. Silica was modified with ketoimine groups. Surface characteristics of the modified silica were determined by elemental analysis, NMR spectra of solid phases (²⁹Si CP MAS NMR), analysis of pore size distribution of the silica support, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. Newly proposed sorbents with ketoimine groups were applied in the preconcentration of trace amounts of the Cu (II) ions from lake water, post-industrial water, and demineralized water unburdened back to the lake. Presented at the 34th International Conference of the Slovak Society of Chemical Engineering, Tatranské Matliare, 21–25 May 2007.     

Structure of fumed silica gels in dodecane: enhanced network by oscillatory shear

The structure and viscoelastic properties of fumed silica gels in dodecane were studied by means of dynamic rheology. With increasing the specific surface area of fumed silica nanoparticles, the plateau elastic modulus (G′), which is frequency-independent and shows the characteristic of a network of the fumed silica gels, decreases. Such networks of fumed silica gels show a significant temperature-dependent behavior and a transition temperature (T _c) related with the restructuring of nanoparticle chain aggregates of fumed silica in gels. Under oscillatory shear, the fumed silica gels experience disorganization and reorganization and present strong structural recovery ability after adjusting oscillatory shear (AOS) at small strain amplitudes (1–10%), and a more perfect network structure than that in origin gels can be induced. Elevated temperature (above T _c) improves the network structure to be more compact and stronger than that at a lower temperature, as a result, the deformation resistance during the AOS period and the structural recovery after AOS are enhanced. These results indicate that the network structure and viscoelastic properties of fumed silica gels can be tailored and optimized by performing small-amplitude oscillatory shear at a properly selected temperature.     

Protein Loading Capacity and Textural Properties of Column Packings in Reversed-Phase HPLC

Abstract

The relationship between the textural properties (pore size, pore volume and surface area) of reversed-phase silica gel packings for HPLC and the dynamic loading capacity of large biomolecules was studied by using silica gels manufactured by similar processes. Several silica gels whose unbonded pore diameters range from 100 to 250 A and whose pore volumes range from 1.0 to 1.4 ml/g have been prepared and characterized. The bonded phase is monomeric C18. The textural properties of the bonded silica gels are also presented and related to the properties of the unbonded silica gels.

Chromatographic evaluation with typical proteins in an underload-to-overload condition was performed in order to relate the influence of textural properties of silica gel to loading capacity and resolution. The packings with larger pore size and pore volume produced better column performance and higher loading of proteins.     

钇(Ⅲ)、铽(Ⅲ)、铒(Ⅲ)对氨基苯甲酸配合物共掺杂二氧化硅的光声光谱研究

合成了Tb(p-ABA)₃·H₂O和Ln(p-ABA)₃·H₂O(p-ABA: 对氨基苯甲酸, Ln: Y或Er)配合物共掺杂的SiO₂样品. 荧光光谱测定结果表明, Y(p-ABA)₃·H₂O的引入增强了样品中Tb³⁺离子的特征发光, 而Er(p-ABA)₃·H₂O的引入使Tb³⁺的发光减弱. 光声光谱结果表明, 与Tb³⁺配合物单掺的样品相比, Tb³⁺和Y³⁺配合物共掺样品的光声强度降低; 而Tb³⁺和Er³⁺配合物共掺的样品则情况相反. 实验测定了共掺杂样品的相对量子发光效率和发光寿命, 从无辐射跃迁和辐射跃迁的角度提出共发光效应可能的机制. 结合对室温下陈化干燥样品的分析发现, 只有经适当的热处理过程才能在SiO₂凝胶中形成具有多核结构的稀土配合物.     

Structure of TiO2 in TiO2-SiO2 prepared by a complexing agent-assisted sol-gel procedure

Many types of TiO₂-SiO₂ (Ti:Si=50:50 mol%) were prepared by the sol-gel procedure with and without 2-methyl-2, 4-pentanediol (MPD) as an organic ligand. The effect of MPD on the gel structure and the properties of the TiO₂ crystals were studied by XRD and raman spectroscopy, and the effect of the sol standing time on the properties of the TiO₂ crystals were also studied by XRD spectroscopy. In the gels with MPD, anatase of TiO₂ appeared at approximately 580°C, and the crystal structures were similar despite the difference in the gel preparation procedure. The titania gels with MPD were presumed to be dispersed in the silica gel matrix without any Ti-O-Si bond. In the presence of MPD, the formation of titania gels is controlled and the specified TiO₂ crystal is produced.     

The stability of titania‐silica interface

Silica is very often the catalyst support of choice for transition metal oxides such as titania, and specially anatase. Titania is an excellent absorber and photocatalyst for many organic molecules degradation. In order to understand the chemical nature of the interaction between titania and silica, we have performed a theoretical study using density functional theory aiming to elucidate the role on the stability of the interface of the specific type of interactions, H‐bonding, covalent bonding of the pristine surfaces, and covalent bonding after silicon and titanium ions interdiffusion. The calculations were carried out for hydrogen and oxygen terminated surface, comparing the bonding types and the forces acting along the interface. The interface dynamics was studied for interfaces under applied stress in order to elucidate their stability and failure limits. The shearing forces and the mechanisms of interface failure were determined. Interfaces with interdiffused Si and Ti ions were studied to improve the interface stabilization. The results demonstrate that high‐temperature treatment leading to formation of Si O Ti bonds at the interface is responsible for the formation of strong and flexible binding interaction between both oxides. At high strains, the Si O Ti interface failure is observed due to lattice mismatch between the SiO₂ and TiO₂. The failure is a result of forces acting orthogonal to the interface shearing. In case of hydrogen terminated surface, the interface binding is a result of hydrogen bond network. Such interface is fragile at moderate shearing forces along the applied strain. The hydrogen bond network decreases the elastic properties and flexibility of the interface. The SiO₂/TiO₂ interface is further stabilized by Si/Ti ion interdiffusion. The ionic interdiffusion process also increases the interface flexibility. Thus, in order to obtain more stable anatase photocatalyst supported on silica, the synthetic routes should favor silicon and titanium ions interdiffusion along the interface.     

Photoluminescence study of mesoporous MCM-41 and Ti-grafted MCM-41

Photoluminescence combined with diffuse reflectance UV—Vis spectroscopy was used to characterise both the pure siliceous MCM-41 and Ti-MCM-41 containing tetrahedral Ti(IV) species anchored onto the inner walls of the siliceous MCM-41. Both Ti-MCM-41 and MCM-41 showed complex photoemission signals and this study allows, for the first time, the distinction of the emission signals of tetrahedral Ti9IV) ions from those due to silica surface centres.     

Improving functional properties of ZnO nanostructures by transition-metal doping: role of aspect ratio

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been used for biosensing and chemical sensing applications because the LSPR peak wavelength depends on the dispersion state and local refractive index of the surrounding medium. In this study, AuNP-loaded silica gels were prepared as sensing chips with high transparency and solution holding capability. The silica gels were prepared at various sintering temperatures from 500 to 900 °C, and the AuNPs precipitated in the gels by using a subsequent thermal reduction process. At sintering temperatures of 700, 800, and 900 °C, transparent and crack-free AuNP-loaded silica gels were obtained. Transmission electron microscopy observation revealed the AuNP size to be approximately 20 nm, and they were highly dispersed in all the silica gel samples. However, the sintering temperature of the silica gels strongly affected the LSPR property of the AuNPs and the porous property of the silica gel. The samples sintered at higher temperature exhibited a lower LSPR sensing ability against the refractive index of immersing solvents. The low sensing ability was considered as a result of a decrease in the contact area between the AuNPs and immersing solvent caused by an increase in the silica gel density with sintering temperature.     

Extraction chromatographic studies of Ti(IV) with cyanex 301 as impregnant—Recovery from red mud

Summary A silica gel column impregnated with bis-(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)dithiophosphinic acid has been studied for the uptake of Ti(IV). Its chemical stability has been examined and its regeneration power checked. The stoichiometry of the extracted species is proposed and the loading capacity of the column material for Ti(IV) assessed. Some important binary separations of Ti(IV) from commonly associated metal ions have been achieved and the column has been used to recover high-purity titanium from red mud, a secondary sector material.     

An improved methodology for adsorption characterization of unmodified and modified silica gels

An improvement in the adsorption characterization of the surface and structural properties of unmodified and modified mesoporous silica gels is presented. This improvement was achieved by selection of proper macroporous silica as the reference solid for adsorption characterization of porous silica gels. Experimental illustration is provided for unmodified and n-octyl-modified silica gels of different bonding density. The surface and structural properties of these silica gels were characterized by utilizing the standard adsorption data for both unmodified and octyl-modified LiChrospher Si-1000 macroporous silica gels. It was shown that the standard nitrogen adsorption data have an appreciable influence on the analysis of the pore size and surface properties of silica gels. This analysis can be improved by selecting the reference solid of the surface properties close to those of the silica gel studied.     

Effect of pore size on the performance of composite adsorbent

Three kinds of commercial silica gels with pore size of 2–3, 4–7 and 8–10 nm respectively are used for preparing composite adsorbents by soaking them into the aqueous solution of calcium chloride. The test result indicates that both the water uptake and adsorption rate of composite adsorbents prepared from 4–7 and 8–10 nm silica gels improve greatly compared to pure silica gels, but they do not for 2–3 nm silica gels. The silica gel with pore size of 2–3 nm is not suitable for preparing the composite adsorbent by impregnation method due to the pore blockage because of the small pore size. The SCP and COP of the adsorption chiller with sample SA50 are 128.3 Wkg^?1 and 0.27 respectively at the hot source temperature of 90 °C, which are largely superior to that of SA0. Hence using the composite adsorbent instead of the pure silica gel can reduce the size of the adsorption chiller.     

IR-spectroscopic study of lewis acid centers on polyzirconiummethylsiloxanes

Acid centers on the surface of polyzirconiummethylsiloxanes (PZMS) containing 5 and 10% ZrO₂ were studied by diffuse-reflectance IR-spectroscopy. Deuterated acetonitrile adsorbed at room temperature at a 96 torr saturated vapor pressure was used as a probe-molecule for acid centers. It was shown that zirconium ions were not built into the matrix but were situated predominantly on the surface of the siliconoxygen framework of silica gels. The introduction of zirconium ions into the polymethylsiloxane matrix at the stage of sol formation caused the appearance of Lewis acid centers (coordinatively unsaturated zirconium ions) on the surface of PZMS along with centers of the physical adsorption of CD₃CN.