Silica–Carbon Nanocomposite Acid Catalyst with Large Mesopore Interconnectivity by Vapor-Phase Assisted Hydrothermal Treatment

Abstract

Mesostructured silica–carbon nanocomposites with large mesopore interconnectivity are created from sucrose as sustainable carbon source using a mild vapor-phase assisted hydrothermal treatment procedure. The resultant mesostructured silica–carbon nanocomposite can be readily sulfonated to provide a strong acid catalyst with high sulfonic acid density, or the carbon phases of the nanocomposite can be removed by calcination to produce a silica material with ultrahigh porosity (Vpore = 1.25 to 1.34 cm3 g–1). A superior catalytic activity is demonstrated for the solvent-less condensation of 2-methylfuran with furfural; both product yield and conversion rate surpass that of reference catalysts such as their counterparts from dry pyrolysis and the commercial strong acid resins. The enhanced catalytic activity is attributed to the higher SO3H acid density (0.64 to 1.08 mmol g–1), the larger and better communicating mesopores (Vmeso = 0.38 to 0.82 cm3 g–1) and the abundant presence of surface oxygen-containing fu...