Synthesis and characterization of Ti-SBA-16 ordered mesoporous silica composite

Ti-SBA-16 mesoporous silica with a cubic Im3m structure has been successfully synthesized through prehydrolysis of a silica precursor in the presence of a tri-block copolymer F127 under acidic condition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that the highly ordered mesostructure was maintained even at the high loading of titanium up to 5.5 (bulk molar ratio SiO₂/TiO₂). UV–vis and Raman spectroscopy reveal that the titanium species was highly dispersed in the silica framework with tetrahedral coordinate and octahedral coordinate, respectively. N₂-adsorption data exhibit that the BET surface, pore size and pore volume were maintained with an increase of titanium species loading for this cubic Im3m mesoporous composite. SEM image shows its amorphous morphology. The synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂-containing SBA-16 composite with a cubic Im3m structure will open new applications for catalysts.