Synthesis and characterization of large-pore vinyl-functionalized mesoporous silica SBA-15

Ordered mesoporous silicas SBA-15 with high loadings of pendant vinyl groups have been synthesized via co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and triethoxyvinylsilane (TEVS) templated with a triblock copolymer.     

Mesoporous silica materials with an extremely high content of organic sulfonic groups and their comparable activities with that of concentrated sulfuric acid in catalytic esterification

Mesoporous silica materials (HS-JLU-20) with an extremely high content of mercaptopropyl groups have been successfully synthesized using fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon surfactant mixtures through a simple co-condensation approach of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS), which are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CHNS elemental analysis, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), and (29)Si NMR spectroscopy. The results show that HS-JLU-20 samples with molar ratios of MPTS/(MPTS + TEOS) at 0.5-0.8 in the starting synthetic gels still show their mesostructures, while HS-SBA-15 with the molar ratio of MPTS/(MPTS + TEOS) at 0.50 completely loses its mesostructure in the absence of fluorocarbon surfactant. Possibly, fluorocarbon surfactant containing N(+) species with a positive charge could effectively interact with negatively charged mercapto groups in the synthesis of HS-JLU-20 materials, resulting in the formation of mesoporous silicas with good cross-linking of silica condensation even at an extremely high content of organic mercapto groups. More interestingly, after the treatment with hydrogen peroxide, HSO(3)-JLU-20 materials with an extremely high content of organic sulfonic groups exhibit comparable activity with liquid concentrated sulfuric acid in catalytic esterification of cyclohexanol with acetic acid.     

A "teardown" method to create large mesotunnels on the pore walls of ordered mesoporous silica

A "teardown" method to create large mesotunnels (approximately 9 nm) on the pore walls of ordered mesoporous silicas is demonstrated by digesting the organic constituents from polymer-silicate nanocomposites. The ordered mesostructured polymer-silicate composites were first obtained via the evaporation-induced triconstituent co-assembly method by using a low-molecular-weight phenolic resin (resols) as an organic precursor; prehydrolyzed TEOS as an inorganic precursor, and triblock copolymer F127 as a template. All of organic components including F127 and phenolic resins are removed by the microwave digestion (MWD) method from mesostructured polymer-silica composites. While the removal of triblock copolymer F127 generates main pore channels, the phenolic resins can also be torn down from the pore walls, yielding mesotunnels between the channels. The resulting silica products exhibit ordered 2-D hexagonal mesostructure, large pore volume (up to 1.92 cm(3)/g), and very large pore size (up to 22.9 nm), which is even larger than their mesostructural cell parameter (14.2 nm). TEM images confirm the existence of mesotunnels on the silica pore walls. FT-IR and (29)Si solid-state NMR results reveal that these silica products have a large number of silanol groups.     

Synthesis of ordered and disordered silicas with uniform pores on the border between micropore and mesopore regions using short double-chain surfactants.

Silica molecular sieves with uniform pores on the borderline between micropore (diameter <2 nm) and mesopore (from 2 to 50 nm) ranges were synthesized by a novel method using judiciously chosen mixtures of short double-chain alkylammonium surfactants. These silicas were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry, and nitrogen and argon adsorption. The calcined materials exhibited either 2-dimensional (2-D) hexagonal or disordered structures with XRD interplanar spacing from 2.51 to 2.93 nm, including the value of as small as 2.69 nm for highly ordered 2-D hexagonal silica. The dependence of the pore size and surfactant content on the surfactant chain length provided strong evidence for supramolecular templating being operative in the formation of small-pore silicas, even for the surfactant chain length of six carbon atoms. Both hexagonally ordered and disordered calcined samples were shown to exhibit narrow pore size distributions with maxima in the range from 1.96 to 2.61 nm (reliably evaluated on the basis of the unit-cell dimension and pore volume for 2-D hexagonal materials, and calculated using a properly calibrated procedure), tailored by the surfactant chain length. The samples exhibited primary pore volumes from 0.28 to 0.54 cm(3) g(-1) and specific surface areas from 730 to 930 m(2) g(-1). Because of their small yet uniform pore size and large specific surface area, the silicas reported herein promise to be useful in applications in adsorption and catalysis. Adsorption studies of these materials provided a unique new insight into the pore-filling mechanism for small-pore materials. Moreover, the approach proposed herein is expected to facilitate the synthesis of not only small-pore silicas but also materials with other framework compositions, thus largely contributing to bridging the gap in attainable pore sizes between micropore and mesopore ranges.     

Synthesis of high surface area Al-containing mesoporous silica from calcined and acid leached kaolinites as the precursors

Al-containing mesoporous silicas were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of microporous silica prepared by selectively acid leached metakaolinites with Si/Al = 3.9-92.5 mixed with a surfactant of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr). The specific surface area of the products increased with higher surfactant/microporous silica (surf/Si) ratio and Si/Al ratio of the microporous silica, reaching about 1400 m2/g at CTABr/Si 0.1 and Si/Al 40. The XRD patterns of these products show a hexagonal (100) peak with the lattice parameter a0=4.2-4.3 nm and the N2 adsorption isotherms show steep increase of adsorption between relative pressure of 0.3 and 0.4. Hexagonal mesoporous microstructure is observed by high resolution TEM. The pore size distributions of the products show a sharp peak at 2.8 nm by the BJH method. The high specific surface area of the present mesoporous samples is attributed to the lower matrix density and surface roughness of mesopore wall. The highest specific surface area of the products reached up to 1420 m2/g and this value is apparently higher than those reported in hexagonal mesoporous silicas. A unique microporous structure of the starting material is thought to be related to achieve such a high specific surface area of the products.     

Solvent evaporation induced aggregating assembly approach to three-dimensional ordered mesoporous silica with ultralarge accessible mesopores

A solvent evaporation induced aggregating assembly (EIAA) method has been demonstrated for synthesis of highly ordered mesoporous silicas (OMS) in the acidic tetrahydrofuran (THF)/H(2)O mixture by using poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PEO-b-PMMA) as the template and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the silica precursor. During the continuous evaporation of THF (a good solvent for PEO-b-PMMA) from the reaction solution, the template molecules, together with silicate oligomers, were driven to form composite micelles in the homogeneous solution and further assemble into large particles with ordered mesostructure. The obtained ordered mesoporous silicas possess a unique crystal-like morphology with a face centered cubic (fcc) mesostructure, large pore size up to 37.0 nm, large window size (8.7 nm), high BET surface area (508 m(2)/g), and large pore volume (1.46 cm(3)/g). Because of the large accessible mesopores, uniform gold nanoparticles (ca. 4.0 nm) can be introduced into mesopores of the OMS materials using the in situ reduction method. The obtained Au/OMS materials were successfully applied to fast catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol in the presence of NaHB(4) as the reductant. The supported catalysts can be reused for catalytic reactions without significant decrease in catalysis performance even after 10 cycles.     

Synthesis, structure and adsorption properties of nanoporous SBA-15 materials with framework and surface functionalities

Highly ordered SBA-15 nanoporous silica containing ethylene, phenylene bridges or/and amine, thiol, vinyl and phenyl surface groups were synthesized by using amphiphilic block copolymer as the structure-directing agent. The XRD data shows high degree of the order of the final structures. Obtained materials have well-developed porous structure—values of specific surface area are in the range 700–1050 m²/g and the sizes of cylindrical mesopores are in the range 6.5–9.5 nm. It was determined that size of the mesopores strongly depends even on small amounts of co-monomers co-condensing with TEOS. A new technique to introduce some amount of pendant amine groups by co-condensation of proper monomers has been proposed. Tetragonal structure was obtained when small amount of vinyl groups was introduced to the system. A new approach of determining pore size based only on the XRD measurements was compared with KJS method, confirming full usefulness of the former for calculation of the size of mesopores in SBA-15 materials. Dedicated to Professor Mietek Jaroniec on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Nanoporous silica films containing aluminum and titanium

By utilizing surfactant aggregates as supramolecular templates, mesoporous and mesostructured silicas with highly ordered structures became available. The resulting mesoporous silicas are promising candidates to host various photo- and electro-active species along with catalytically active species, due to their large and controllable pore sizes, highly ordered pore arrangements with low dimensional geometries, and reactive surfaces. We have developed the rapid solvent evaporation method, which is a modified sol-gel process, for synthesizing the mesostructured silica-surfactant films as well as the mesoporous silica films. Supported thin films, self-standing films and bubbles of mesoporous silicas have been synthesized by the rapid solvent evaporation method. The microstructures of the films have also been successfully controlled by changing the synthetic conditions. Taking advantage of the ease of synthetic operation and the transparency and homogeneity of the resulting materials, we have been interested in the introduction of functional units into the mesostructured materials. This paper reports the synthesis of transparent films of titanium- and aluminum-containing nanoporous silicas to modify the surface properties (such as adsorptive and catalytic) of nanoporous silicas. The incorporation of Al led to the formation of cation exchange or acidic sites on the mesopore surface, as revealed by the cationic dye adsorption experiments. The photocatalytic reactions of the Ti-containing nanoporous silica films were also examined.     

Synthesis,Bifunctionalization, and Remarkable Adsorption Performance of Benzene‐Bridged Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas Functionalized with High Loadings of Carboxylic Acids

Highly ordered benzene‐bridged periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) that were functionalized with exceptionally high loadings of carboxylic acid groups (COOH), up to 80 mol % based on silica, have been synthesized and their use as adsorbents for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB), a basic dye pollutant, and for the loading and release of doxorubicin (DOX), an anticancer drug, is demonstrated. These COOH‐functionalized benzene? silicas were synthesized by the co‐condensation of 1,4‐bis(triethoxysilyl) benzene (BTEB) and carboxyethylsilanetriol sodium salt (CES), an organosilane that contained a carboxylic acid group, in the presence of non‐ionic oligomeric surfactant Brij 76 in acidic medium. The materials thus obtained were characterized by a variety of techniques, including powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen‐adsorption/desorption isotherms, TEM, and ¹³C and ²⁹Si solid‐state NMR spectroscopy. Owing to the exceptionally high loadings of COOH groups, their high surface areas, and possible π? π‐stacking interactions, these adsorbents have very high adsorption capacities and extremely rapid adsorption rates for MB removal and for the controlled loading/release of DOX, thus manifesting their great potential for environmental and biomedical applications.     

Plugged hexagonal templated silica: a unique micro- and mesoporous composite material with internal silica nanocapsules

We describe in this paper the development of plugged hexagonal templated silicas (PHTS) which are hexagonally ordered materials, with internal microporous silica nanocapsules; they have a combined micro- and mesoporosity and a tuneable amount of both open and encapsulated mesopores and are much more stable than other tested micellar templated structures.     

Synthesis and characterization of nanocast silica NCS-1 with CMK-3 as a template

Nanocast silica (NCS-1) was synthesized by a casting process by employing the mesoporous carbon CMK-3 (the replica of SBA-15) as a template, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the silica source, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the catalyst. The ordered carbon template was removed by employing different methods, such as calcination, thermal treatment followed by calcination, and controlled combustion. According to XRD and TEM characterization, NCS-1 exhibits an ordered structure with hexagonal symmetry and retains the morphology of the original SBA-15 used for the synthesis of CMK-3 over two replication steps on the nanometer scale. This demonstrates the well-connected porosity in CMK-3 type carbon, which can be used as a mold to synthesize mesostructured materials. The nitrogen adsorption isotherms generally show type IV shape, indicating mesoporous characteristics. The structure of NCS-1 is strongly influenced by variables of the nanocasting process, such as the loading amount of silica, hydrolysis temperature, and carbon removal methods. The surface area, pore size, and pore volume of NCS-1 can be tuned to a certain range by varying these parameters.     

Synthesis of mesoporous silicas of controlled pore wall thickness and their replication to ordered nanoporous carbons with various pore diameters

A synthesis strategy for the systematic control of the pore wall thickness has been developed for the mesoporous silicas with 2-D hexagonal order using ionic and nonionic surfactant mixtures. The mesoporous silicas have been used as templates for the synthesis of 2-D hexagonally ordered mesoporous carbons with controlled pore diameters. The synthesis strategy and results are useful not only for tailoring the properties of the mesoporous materials but also for extending our insights into the synthesis mechanism.     

Double-Mesopore V-MSU-X Silica and its Pure Siliceous Derivative Prepared by One Synthesis System

Since their first disclosure of the M41S family of materials1,2 in 1992, considerable research effort has been developed to prepare the other derivatives of mesoporous materials such as SBA3 and MSU-X4,5 silicates by using different polymeric and oligomeric templates. The later involved different sorts of nonionic poly (ethylene oxide)-based surfactants, which led to the family of MSU-X (X=1-4) and then provided new advantages in either topologies or processing. The interest in these mate…     

Tuning the mesostructures of vinyl silica by adjusting the micellar curvature

In our previous study (Wang, Y. Q.; Yang, C.-M.; Zibrowius, B.; Spliethoff, B.; Lindén, M.; Schüth, F. Chem. Mater. 2003, 15, 5029), mesoporous vinyl-functionalized silica (vinyl silica) with hexagonal P6mm and cubic Ia3d structures has been synthesized at different loadings of vinyl groups and at different concentrations of sodium chloride when triblock copolymer P123 was used as a template. Our further investigations presented in this article reveal that at a loading of 10% vinyl groups, well-ordered cubic Ia3d structure was obtained at a low concentration of Na2SO4 (0.5 M) and the hexagonal structure was produced at 1.0 M NaCl. When NaNO3 was used as the inorganic salt, the hexagonal structure was still maintained even at a salt concentration of 2.0 M. The result is in accordance with the Hofmeister series order (salting-out effect): SO4(2-) > Cl- > NO3(-). The lowering of the acidity also induced the formation of the cubic Ia3d structure. At 20% loading, hexagonal structure can be obtained by adding the more hydrophilic Pluronic F127 (EO106PO70EO106) to the acidic solutions of P123, but the hexagonal structure cannot be produced with pure P123 under the synthesis conditions investigated. All of these results can be rationalized through hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance and the change in micellar curvature. Furthermore, 10% mercaptopropyl-functionalized mesoporous silica with cubic Ia3d structure was designed and synthesized successfully with the assistance of an inorganic salt (NaCl) in an acidic solution of P123, which is the first example of mercaptopropyl-functionalized large-pore mesoporous silica with high loadings.     

A simple method to ordered mesoporous carbons containing nickel nanoparticles

A series of ordered mesoporous carbons containing magnetic Ni nanoparticles (Ni-OMCs) with a variety of Ni loadings was made by a simple one-pot synthetic procedure through carbonization of phenolic resin-Pluronic block copolymer composites containing various amount of nickel nitrate. Such composite materials were characterized by N₂ sorption, XRD, and STEM. Ni-OMCs exhibited high BET surface area, uniform pore size, and large pore volume without obvious pore blockage with a Ni loading as high as 15 wt%. Ni nanoparticles were crystalline with a face-center-cubic phase and observed mainly in the carbon matrix and on the outer surface as well. The average particle size of Ni nanoparticles was dependent on the preparation (carbonization) temperature and Ni loading; the higher the temperature was used and the more the Ni was incorporated, the larger the Ni nanoparticles were observed. One of the applications of Ni-OMCs was demonstrated as magnetically separable adsorbents. Dedicated to Professor Mietek Jaroniec on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Manipulation of the phase structure of vinyl-functionalized phenylene bridging periodic mesoporous organosilica

A series of vinyl-functionalized periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) were prepared by co-condensation of 1,4-bis (triethoxysilyl) benzene (BTEB) and triethoxyvinylsilane (TEVS) using the triblock copolymer Pluronic P123 as a template under acid conditions. It is found that the mesophases of resultant PMOs can be controlled via altering the fraction of organosilanes in the synthesis mixture and catalyst HCl concentration. With increasing fraction of TEVS, mesophase of the PMOs materials changed from p6mm to Ia3d, and then becomes a disordered material. For PMOs with 15 molar percentage of TEVS, the increase of HCl concentration can induce a transformation of mesophases from hexagonal p6mm to cubic Ia3d, whereas, a mixture of p6mm/disordered structure forms at lower acid concentration for the PMOs containing 5 % TEVS. The mechanisms of mesophase transformation were discussed based on the adsorption of TEVS into the micelles, influence of acid concentration on the hydrolysis and condensation rate, and the relative reactivities of the organosilane precursors.     

Surfactant effects on the physical properties of mesoporous silica and silicates

Mesostructured silicas and silicates have been synthesized using hydrogels with molar composition: M:26.0SiO₂:5.2(C₂H₅)₄NOH:7.5[CH₃(CH₂)₁₅N(CH₃)₃]₂O:790H₂O, where M=0, Zr(OC₃H₇)₄ or Ti(OC₄H₉)₄. In all preparations, colloidal silica (Ludox) was used as the source of silica. The hydrothermal transformation at 110°C of these gels produced solids with the hexagonal structure typical of MCM-41 type materials. The effects of chain length and surfactant terminal alkyl groups on the properties of mesoporous materials containing Ti or Zr, have been investigated by using different surfactants such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and chloride, cetyl dimethyl ethyl ammonium bromide, and myristyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. When the surfactant's carbonyl chain decreased to 14 from 16 carbon atoms, a reduction in unit cell dimension and average pore diameter was observed in the mesoporous silicas, titaniumsilicates and zirconiumsilicates under study. Replacement of methyl groups with ethyl groups on the surfactant hydrophobic head, had no measurable effects on crystals' properties. However, a surfactant with a bulky aromatic head group, such as cetyl pyridinium chloride, inhibited crystallization. In general, the use of bromide in place of chloride salts yielded more ordered MCM-41 type crystals. The high thermal stability (to 800°C), surface area (1000–1500 m²/g), pore volume (0.90–1.20 cm³/g) and uniform mesoporosity (with pore diameter in the 2.9 nm–3.6 nm range), of these metalsilicates could be of particular interest in the preparation of catalysts requiring siliceous metal supports.     

Novel route to periodic mesoporous aminosilicas, PMAs: ammonolysis of periodic mesoporous organosilicas

A new route to periodic mesoporous aminosilicas (PMAs) that contain amine functional groups in the framework of a mesoporous network is reported. The materials are prepared via thermal ammonolysis of periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) under a flow of ammonia gas. PMOs integrate similar or even higher quantities of nitrogen-containing groups upon ammonolysis than similarly treated ordered mesoporous silicas (MCM-41). The quantity of amine groups introduced into the materials was found to depend strongly on the ammonolysis temperature. The largest loading of amine groups was obtained when a well-ordered cubic methylene PMO material without prior vacuum-drying was thermolyzed in ammonia. The ordered mesoporosity of PMOs was preserved during the ammonolysis with only a slight decrease in the mesopore size and the degree of mesostructural ordering. The extent of substitution of framework oxygen by amine and nitride groups was established by solid-state (29)Si CP-MAS, (29)Si MAS, (15)N MAS, and (13)C CP-MAS NMR spectroscopies, elemental analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In some cases, methylene and methyl functional groups were also present in the PMAs along with amine functional groups, as inferred from elemental analysis and gas adsorption, particularly in cases where PMOs were subjected to ammonolysis at 400 and 550 degrees C for several hours. This resulted in new multifunctional mesoporous organoaminosilica nanomaterials with properties that could be tuned by systematically varying the relative amounts of hydrophilic amine and hydrophobic hydrocarbon pendent and framework groups. The stability upon storage was found to be much higher for PMAs obtained from PMOs than for those obtained from MCM-41 silicas under the same conditions.     

Benzene Adsorption Isotherms on MCM-41 and their Use for Pore Size Analysis

This work is focused on the elaboration of methodology for adsorption characterization of porous silicas by using benzene adsorption isotherms measured on good quality MCM-41 materials. Three MCM-41 samples were synthesized by using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as silica source and surfactants, octyltrimethylammonium (C8), decyltrimethylammonium (C10) and cetyltrimethylammonium (C16) bromides as templates. A characteristic feature of this synthesis was relatively long hydrothermal treatment (5 days) at 373 K, which gave well ordered samples as evidenced by powder XRD analysis. Benzene adsorption isotherms measured on these MCM-41 samples were used to evaluate such standard quantities as the BET specific surface area, total pore volume, external surface area and the volume of ordered mesopores, and to obtain the statistical film thickness (t-curve) as well as the Kelvin-type relation, which describes the dependence between pore width and condensation pressure for benzene on silica at 298 K. The latter relations were incorporated into the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda algorithm to extend its applicability to calculate the pore size distributions from benzene adsorption data.     

DSC study of polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate filled with modified silicas

Effects of the nature of functional groups (namely, hydroxyl, methyl, silicon hydride, amino, and vinyl) on the surface of pristine and modified silicas on polymerization of 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) and on structural characteristics of the filled composites have been studied. DSC, FTIR spectroscopy and equilibrium water sorption (ESI) techniques were applied for the composites characterization. Results obtained testify that the chemical nature of the grafted groups has a strong influence on the monomer orientation in the surface layer of the filler. More uniform and cross-linked structures were detected in the composites with particularly methylated silica. Filler with chemically active silicon hydride groups promotes formation of ordered structure with rigid macromolecules. The presence of amino and vinyl groups on the silica surface results in formation of flexible polymer chains with a low cross-linking density or with a low polymerization degree, even at 2?wt% filling degree. Water uptake for composites with vinyl- and amine-containing silicas was low, indicating the close-packing of polymeric molecules in the filled polyHEMA.