Synthesis of Plugged Mesoporous SBA-15-type Silicas from Sodium Silicate

Nonionic triblock copolymers (P123) templated SBA-15 silicas since 1998 have attracted great interest due to their larger pores, thicker pore walls, etc. Following that, extensive works were devoted to tailor the textural and morphological properties of SBA-15s, among which the SBA-15 with plugs formed in mesoschannels, called plugged hexagonal templated silica (PHTS), was one of famous examples. This work presents a simple but effective method to prepare PHTS-type SBA-15s based on the partitioned cooperative self-assembly process using P123 as template and cheap sodium silicate as silica precursor, which is in contrast with most other works using TEOS as silica precursor. Various techniques, including XRD, TEM and N-2 sorption, have been employed to characterize the resultant PHTS-type SBA-15s. For this method, synthetic parameters, especially the interval time and aging temperatures, were found to have great influence on the plugged mesostructures.