The Synthesis and Characteristics of Vanadoaluminosilicate MCM-41 Mesoporous Molecular Sieves

A series of vanadoaluminosilicate MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves with various compositions have been hydrothermally synthesized. Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide was used as a surfactant in the synthesis. The samples were characterized with nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform-Infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and solid state NMR. The solid products had the MCM-41 structure and contained only atomically dispersed vanadium and aluminum consistent with framework vanadium and aluminum. The samples were hydrophobic and contained large amount of surfactant in the as-synthesized samples. The surfactant could be removed upon calcination at 450°C. N2 sorption measurements and TEM demonstrate the high mesoporosity of [V, Al]-MCM-41. The incorporation of vanadium and aluminum into MCM-41 decreased the surface area to some extent. The morphologies of all the samples were the agglomerate of plates. 29Si MAS NMR shows that the pore wall is amorphous. 27Al MAS NMR shows that all of aluminum species were tetrahedrally coordinated even after calcination at 550°C.