Sinterability Enhancement by Collapse of Mesoporous Structure of SBA‐15 in Fabrication of Highly Transparent Silica Glass

Highly transparent silica glass was prepared from mesoporous silica SBA‐15 powders at low temperature using Spark Plasma Sintering. It was found that the combined effect of pressure and temperature resulted in collapse of porous structure of SBA‐15 and transformation to transparent glass. A sinterability enhancement mechanism involving generation of incremental surface area from pore collapse during sintering process was proposed to interpret the fully densification at low temperature.     

The nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles decorated glass obtained from sintering mesoporous powders

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have excellent third-order nonlinear optical properties but it is still difficult to obtain silica glass containing Ag NPs with homogenous dispersion and small particle size. Herein, silica glass with homogenously distributed Ag NPs in its matrix was derived from sintering a famous type of mesoporous silica (FDU-12) encapsulated with Ag NPs (Ag NPs/FDU-12) through Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technique. Benefited from the low-temperature sintering property of the Ag NPs/FDU-12 powders (~930°C within 5 min), the Ag NPs can be directly trapped in the derived silica glass with small particle size (<3.0 nm) and without mass loss. The as-prepared Ag NPs/glass showed a typical reverse saturable absorption curve, which is measured via the Z-scan method by using a 532 nm nanosecond laser. The nonlinear coefficient and imaginary third-order susceptibility were calculated as 11.46 cm/GW and 2.22 × 10⁻¹² esu, respectively, indicating the excellent third-order nonlinear optical properties of the Ag NPs/glass. This study demonstrates a great potential for preparing silica glasses functionalized with well dispersed ultrafine functional particles, which is appealing in photonic field.     

Calculation of XRD patterns of simulated FDU-15, CMK-5, and CMK-3 carbon structures

XRD patterns of model structures of the ordered mesoporous carbon materials FDU-15, CMK-5, and CMK-3 have been calculated. The structure models had been derived by filling tubular (CMK-5), rod-like (CMK-3), or channel wall (FDU-15) spaces in a given unit cell with carbon atoms. The generated carbon sites then have been used for the calculation of the XRD patterns. It could be shown that XRD patterns of CMK-5 materials vary substantially with variation of the tube diameter and carbon wall thickness. For a certain range of tube diameters, the XRD patterns do not resemble those of CMK-3 or FDU-15. The carbon material FDU-15 is isostructural to the silica SBA-15, CMK-3 is the negative replica of SBA-15. XRD patterns of CMK-3 and FDU-15 models also vary with varying rod or pore diameter but the changes are not as significant as for different CMK-5 models. As expected, the XRD patterns of FDU-15 and CMK-3 resemble each other very much for a given lattice parameter if the rods of CMK-3 are of the same size as the pore diameters of FDU-15.     

Templating synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon particles

This research reports the synthesis of spherical ordered mesoporous carbon particles using mesoporous silica particles as a template. The silica particles with ordered cubic and lamellar mesostructures were synthesized from an aerosol-assisted self-assembly process using block copolymer surfactants as the structural directing agent. Infiltrating the pores of the silica particles with a sucrose solution followed by carbonization, and silica removal results in mesoporous carbon particles with replicated mesostructures. The particles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and nitrogen sorption techniques.     

Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Materials with Semi-Graphitized Walls via Direct In-situ Silica-Confined Thermal Decomposition of CH4 and Their Hydrogen Storage Properties

Ordered mesoporous carbons with semi-graphitized walls (OMCs-SGW) were successfully obtained by in situ silica-confined thermal decomposition of methane at low temperatures (800–1000 °C). This novel method, adopting ordered mesoporous silicas (OMSs) as hard templates, impregnating OMSs with small amounts of group VIII metal (Fe, Co, Ni) nitrates as catalysts, combining pore infiltration and carbonization/graphitization processes into a single step, provides an efficient way for the synthesis of OMCs-SGW. Methane, a special carbon precursor with small molecular size, is adopted because it allows complete penetration, and full carbon deposition inside the mesopores and is an easy graphitization process at low temperature assisted by catalysts. Two mesoporous silica materials, SBA-15 with hexagonal structure (p6m) and KIT-6 with cubic bicontinuous structure (Ia3d), were used as hard templates. SAXS patterns and TEM results show that the obtained carbon materials are faithfully replicated from the mesostructures of silica templates. Their pore walls are semi-graphitized and little structural shrinkage and negligible micropores are observed. The textural, structural properties and degree of graphitization of the OMCs-SGW can be conveniently tuned by controlling the temperature, namely, higher temperatures (e.g. 1000 °C) lead to products with more ordered and graphitized frameworks, but lower surface areas and pore volumes (about 390 m²/g and 0.45 cm³/g), while lower temperature (800 °C) results in products with less ordered and graphitized structures, but very high surface areas and pore volumes (up to 1200 m²/g and 2.08 cm³/g). OMCs-SGW can also be synthesized without catalysts. They have higher surface areas and pore volumes but much lower graphitized structures than the counterparts synthesized with catalysts. These OMCs-SGW show good hydrogen uptake capabilities (up to ~2 wt% at 10 bar and 77 K).     

Synthesis of Ti-containing mesoporous silicates from inorganic titanium sources

Titanium-containing mesoporous molecular sieves including periodic mesoporous silicas (SBA-15-type) and organosilicas (PMO-type) can be assembled by using mixed inorganic acid–base pairs (TiCl₄ and tetrabutyl titanate) or a single inorganic TiCl₃ as the titanium sources and tetraethoxysilane and/or 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane as the silica sources and triblock copolymer as the structure-directing agent in acidic media through the hydrothermal method. Characterization using XRD, nitrogen sorption isotherms, UV–vis, FT-IR and NMR techniques reveals that the Ti-containing mesoporous materials possess ordered 2D hexagonal mesostructures, high surface areas (421–1070 m²/g), uniform pore sizes (5.1–8.0 nm), large pore volumes (0.5–1.3 cm³/g), and tetrahedrally incorporated titanium (IV) species in the silica network. The maximum incorporated Ti content is about 0.34 wt% for the ordered mesostructure regardless of the titania and silica sources and the initial Si/Ti ratio.     

Effect of Counterions on Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica by the Route of Template

Mesoporous silica materials with ordered hexagonal and parallel-arranged pore channel have been synthesized using cetyl trimethylammonium bromide as a template and Na₂SO₄ as counterions. Their ordered mesostructures were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption analysis. The effects of Na₂SO₄ concentration on variations of morphology, specific surface area, and pore size were discussed; the results show that a high concentration of Na₂SO₄ induces the formation of crystal threads with a "tubules-within-tubule" structure, and also leads to mesoporous silica materials with spherical, fabaceous, sheet-like, or prismatic shapes. The results also show that a high concentration of Na₂SO₄ can make the pore size decrease, but cannot change pore wall thickness, demonstrating the stability of the hexagonal-shaped pores.     

Adsorption/Desorption of Hg(II) on FDU-1 Silica and FDU-1 Silica Modified with Humic Acid

Incorporation of humic acid in the FDU-1 mesoporous silica improved Hg(II) adsorption and did not destroy the ordered network, providing surface area of 500 m² g^?1, pore volume of 0.9 cm³ g^?1, and mean pore diameter of 10 nm. Carboxylic and phenolic groups increased the affinity by forming surface complexes with Hg(II). Isotherms (25.0 ± 0.1°C) were fitted to the Freundlich equation, exhibiting K_f values that increased with pH and 1/n that decreased to values < 1 with the heterogeneity of sites. Hg(II) desorption in 0.10 mol L^?1 acetic acid was lower than 10%, suggesting that chemisorption processes govern the Hg(II) removal.     

Hierarchically bimodal mesoporous silica fibers as building units for silica monolith with trimodal porous architecture

This work reports the controllable preparation of a unique kind of hierarchically mesoporous silica (HMS) fibers with bimodal porosities based on a simple TEOS/P123/HCl(aq.) templating system via the partitioned cooperative self-assembly (PCSA) process. Experimental results show that the formation of hierarchical mesostructures, especially the 2nd mode porous structure, depends on the interval time pertaining to the PCSA process. Synthetic conditions, including the interval time, temperature and stirring, are all found to be important in the evolution of fiber particle morphology. Moreover, such HMS fibers can be used as building units to prepare mesoporous silica monoliths with hierarchical trimodal pore systems via a simple gel-casting method, with additional (the 3rd modal) macropores originating from the packing of micron-sized HMS fibers. Such materials might further expand the application of both HMS fibers and HMS monoliths in various fields.     

Effects of Prior Annealing on the Spark Plasma Sintering of Nanostructured Y2O3 Powders

The effects produced by annealing Y₂O₃ nanopowders on their spark plasma sintering (SPS) behavior are systematically investigated in this work. It is found that the annealed powders display higher sinterability with respect to the as‐received ones. Indeed, the maximum densification level reached from pristine powders is about 97.5%, whereas density decreases when further increasing either the sintering temperature or the dwell time. In contrast, the density of SPS products obtained from pretreated powder monotonically increases with temperature and processing time, thus leading to fully dense materials in 30 min at 1050°C and 60 MPa. Correspondingly, it is found that the annealing treatment markedly inhibits grain coarsening during SPS. Thus, dense translucent samples with grain size below 100 nm can be attained from annealed powders. On the other hand, white‐opaque specimens with significantly coarser microstructures (up to 1‐μm‐sized grains) are obtained when pristine powders are directly processed under the same sintering conditions. Furthermore, it is observed that the annealing treatment of SPS samples in air allows for graphite contamination removal, whereas no improvement in term of light transmittance is produced.     

3D cubic mesoporous silica microsphere as a carrier for poorly soluble drug carvedilol

The present work was proposed not only to exploit the potential of 3D cage-like mesoporous silica SBA-16 with a well-defined spherical morphology as a carrier for poorly soluble drugs, but also to compare the drug loading and release properties of 3D cubic SBA-16 with that of classic 2D hexagonal MCM-41. SBA-16 microsphere with highly ordered mesostructures was synthesized by a facile method using block co-polymer F127 as template, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as co-template and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as silica source. Carvedilol (CAR), an antihypertensive agent, was used as a model drug and loaded into mesoporous silica via solvent deposition method at drug-silica ratio of 1:3. In vitro dissolution was performed in both simulated intestinal fluid (SIF, pH 6.8) and simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.2). Of particular interest was that in SIF both MCM-41 and SBA-16 samples exhibited promoted dissolution profile for CAR as compared to its corresponding crystalline form which exhibited poor dissolution behavior. This dissolution-enhancing effect might be due to the non-crystalline state and increased surface area of confined CAR as well as the hydrophilic nature of silica. In comparison with MCM-41, SBA-16 displayed a more rapid release profile in both SIF and SGF, which may be ascribed to the 3D interconnected pore networks and the highly accessible surface areas. The suitability of the utilization of SBA-16 microsphere as carriers will open new avenues for the formulation of poorly soluble drugs.     

新型MAX相陶瓷Mo2Ga2C的放电等离子烧结

Mo2Ga2C是一种新型MAX相，该材料粉体已经可以被稳定的制备。但是Mo2Ga2C粉体不容易被烧结为致密的块体。本文采用放电等离子烧结技术(SPS)高温处理Mo2Ga2C粉体，通过对制备样品的物相组成和微观结构的表征，研究Mo2Ga2C的烧结性能。SPS烧结Mo2Ga2C 的最佳工艺参数为：烧结温度700℃，保温时间20min，轴向压力30MPa。在此条件下SPS烧结Mo2Ga2C样品相对密度达到71.81%。延长保温时间比升高烧结温度对Mo2Ga2C的致密化有更明显的助益；而增大轴向压力对样品的致密化产生负影响。相对于热压烧结，SPS可以在较低的温度快速制备Mo2Ga2C样品，但是制备的样品的致密度较低。     

Monodispersed nanoporous starburst carbon spheres and their three-dimensionally ordered arrays

Controlled syntheses of highly monodispersed nanoporous carbon spheres via a nanocasting route are described. Previously reported monodispersed super-microporous or mesoporous silica spheres with hexagonally ordered pore channels were used as sacrificial templates, and the effect of pore sizes of the templates on the porous properties of the nanocast carbon spheres was comprehensively studied. The resultant carbon spheres exhibited a unique starburst structure derived from radially-aligned pore channels in the silica template, and had a BET surface area of over 1000 m²g^?1. It was found out that the radial alignment and sufficiently large pore size of hexagonally ordered pore channels in the silica spheres were effective to enhance the degree of order of the starburst structure in the nanocast carbon spheres and that ordered nanoporous carbon spheres could be obtained even from the MCM-41-type mesoporous silica. The diameters of the nanoporous carbon spheres were controlled in the sub-micrometer range by changing the sizes of silica templates. Furthermore, three-dimensionally ordered arrays consisting of nanoporous carbon spheres were successfully fabricated via the self-assembly of mesoporous silica/carbon composite spheres and the subsequent dissolution of the silica templates.     

Phase transition of mesoporous SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> impregnated with an organic templating agent by post-synthetic microwave heating

Mesoporous silica SBA-15 samples were subjected to microwave heating for 10–40 min at 393 and 443 K after dry-impregnation with TPAOH (tetrapropylammonium hydroxide) to prepare a mesoporous material with zeolytically ordered pore walls. Physicochemical properties of the materials prepared were characterized by XRD, N₂ adsorption at 77 K, SEM, TEM, UV–vis and FT-IR spectroscopies. These investigations revealed that selective transformation of amorphous pore walls of SBA-15 to crystalline zeolytic phase is difficult to be achieved and a mixed phase of mesoporous silica/zeolite composite material was obtained, instead. Microwave heating time, temperature, TPAOH concentration, and hydrothermal stability of the mesoporous host materials tested (MCM-41, HMS, and SBA-15) were important factors to maintain the mesopore structure of the host materials during the post-synthetic microwave heating treatment.     

Mesoporous silica supports for improved thermal stability in supported Au catalysts

In this work, we present a comprehensive review of our research on the role of mesoporous silica pore architecture, composition of the pore walls (addition of Co or Al), and silica surface chemistry (surface modification by TiO₂) to improve the hydrothermal stability of Au particles. We have found that mesoporous silica architecture plays an important role in improving Au stability, with three dimensional mesoporous architectures being less effective than one dimensional (1-D) pores. The tortuous 1-D pores in aerosol silica were found to be most effective at controlling Au particle size. Since Au particles continue to grow larger than the pore diameter, we conclude that Ostwald ripening must be the dominant sintering pathway for these Au catalysts. These catalysts are active for CO oxidation even after the Au particles have grown large enough to block the pores, suggesting that the thin walls of mesoporous silica provide easy access to gas phase molecules. Further improvements in Au stability and reactivity were obtained by surface modification of the aerosol and MCM-41 silica with TiO₂. After TiO₂ modification of the silica, the Au particles remained smaller than the pore size (< 3 nm) even after three cycles of CO oxidation at temperatures up to 400 °C.     

The influence of carbon source on the wall structure of ordered mesoporous carbons

A series of ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) have been synthesized by filling the pores of siliceous SBA-15 hard template with various carbon precursors including sucrose, furfuryl alcohol, naphthalene and anthracene, followed by carbonization and silica dissolution. The carbon replicas have been characterized by powder XRD, TEM and N₂ adsorption techniques. Their electrochemical performance used as electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) were also conducted with cyclic voltammetry and charge-discharge cycling tests. The results show that highly ordered 2D hexagonal mesostructures were replicated by using all these four carbon sources under the optimal operation conditions. Physical properties such as mesoscopic ordering, surface areas, pore volumes, graphitic degrees, and functional groups are related to the precursors, but pore sizes are shown minor relationship with them. The sources, which display high yields to carbons, for example, furfuryl alcohol and anthracene are favorable to construct highly ordered mesostructures even at high temperatures (1300 °C). OMCs prepared from non-graphitizable sources such as sucrose and furfuryl alcohol display amorphous pore walls, and large surface areas and pore volumes. The functional groups in the precursors like sucrose and furfuryl alcohol can be preserved on carbon surfaces after the carbonization at low temperatures but would be removed at high temperatures. The graphitizable precursors with nearly parallel blocks and weak cross-linkage between them like anthracene are suitable for deriving the OMCs with graphitic walls. Therefore, the OMCs originated from sucrose and furfuryl alcohol behave the highest capacitances at a carbonization of 700 °C among the four carbons due to the high surface areas and plenty of functional groups, and a declination at high temperatures possibly attribute to the depletion of functional groups. Anthracene derived OMCs has the lowest capacitance carbonized at 700 °C, and a steady enhancement when heated at high temperatures, which is attributed to the graphitization. The OMCs derived from naphthalene have the stable properties such as relatively high surface areas, few electroactive groups and limited graphitizable properties, and in turn medium but almost constant capacitances.     

CO2/N2开关型脒基表面活性剂软模板制备介孔二氧化硅

模板法是制备介孔SiO₂的常用方法之一,而模板法通常需要脱除模板后才能得到介孔结构。以传统表面活性剂为模板合成介孔二氧化硅,除模板方法还有高温焙烧、溶剂萃取等,但这些方法均存在一定的缺点,如导致结构坍塌、消耗大量溶剂等。本文采用开关型表面活性剂N'-十二烷基-N,N-二甲基乙基脒碳酸氢盐为模板剂,以正硅酸四乙酯(TEOS)为硅源在碱性条件下合成SiO₂。与常规除模板法不同,本实验在反应结束后加热并通入N₂使表面活性剂分解失去表面活性,用水和丙酮洗涤后得到了形貌规整、孔道有序、具有较高比表面积和孔容的介孔SiO₂。同时还研究了有机盐乙二胺四乙酸二钠(Na₂EDTA)对介孔有序度、所得介孔材料比表面积、孔容孔径和模板残留量的影响。     

Solvent-free infiltration method for mesoporous SnO2 using mesoporous silica templates

Mesoporous tin oxide (SnO₂) materials, exhibiting high surface areas, crystalline frameworks and various mesostructures, were successfully obtained by a facile solvent-free infiltration method from mesoporous silica templates. Various kinds of mesoporous silica materials, such as KIT-6 (bicontinuous 3-D cubic, Ia3d), SBA-15 (2-D hexagonal, p6mm), SBA-16 (3-D cubic with cage-like pores, Im3m) and spherical mesoporous silica (disordered), were utilized as the hard templates. Tin precursor (SnCl₂ · 2H₂O, m.p. 310–311 K) was infiltrated spontaneously within the mesopores of silica templates by melting the precursor at 353 K without using any solvent. The heat-treatment of SnCl₂-infiltrated composite materials at 973 K under static air conditions and subsequent removal of silica templates by using HF result in the successful preparation of mesoporous SnO₂ materials. The mesostructures as well as the morphologies of mesoporous SnO₂ materials thus obtained were very similar with those of the mesoporous silica templates. The mesoporous SnO₂ materials exhibit high surface areas of 84–121 m²/g as well as high pore volumes in the range of 0.22–0.35 cm³/g. The present solvent-free infiltration method is believed to be a simple and facile way for the preparation of mesoporous materials via nano-replication from mesoporous silica templates.     

Preparation of bicontinuous mesoporous silica and organosilica materials containing gold nanoparticles by co-synthesis method

Catalytic activities of gold strongly depend on its particle size. It is necessary to have homogeneous distributions of small gold nanoparticles with diameters between 2 and 5 nm for excellent catalytic activities. In this study, gold-containing mesoporous silica materials were prepared by a co-synthesis method. The essence of this sol–gel co-synthesis method is to combine together neutral surfactant template synthesis of mesoporous silica materials with the introduction of metal ions via bifunctional silane ligands, so that the formation of mesostructures and metal–ion doping occur simultaneously. The formation of gold nanoparticles with size less than 5 nm inside mesoporous materials (HMS, MSU, and PMO) has been achieved by this co-synthesis sol–gel process. In addition, the effects of post-treatments, such as calcination and reduction, on pore structures and nanoparticle size distributions were also investigated.     

Uniform and ordered periodic mesoporous organosilica thin films by a facile solution growth approach

We demonstrate a novel solution growth method for synthesis of uniform and ordered periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) thin films on substrate. The approach is simple and facile, in which a substrate is immersed into a solution containing 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) precursor, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant template, ammonia catalyst, ethanol, and decane. The precursors are hydrolyzed, cross-linked by ammonia catalyst, and assembled with the surfactant on the substrate to form highly ordered hexagonal mesostructures. The obtained mesoporous silica films possess substrate-size-dependent dimension, uniform and tunable thickness (30–100 nm), and ethane group incorporated frameworks. The obtained PMO films have been characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). The film thickness can be easily controlled by adjusting the reaction temperature. A formation mechanism of the ethane-bridged PMO films via CTAB directed sol–gel process is further proposed.