Dispersion of active Au nanoparticles on mesoporous SBA-15 materials

Chemical modification (CM) and deposition-precipitation (DP) methods were used for the dispersion of active Au nanoparticles on mesoporous silica materials in this work. XRD, TEM, N-2 adsorption isotherms and UV-Vis absorption spectra were used to characterize in detail Au-SBA-15 materials prepared by the two methods. The analysis results showed that high loading (1.7%, by mass) and uniform Au nanoparticles (approximately 3 nm) were dispersed in the channels of mesoporous SBA-15 by the CM method. While for the DP method, most of An nanoparticles with the size of 10-15nm were aggregated outside of the channels of SBA-15 and the actual loading of Au was only 0.38% (by mass).