Synthesis and Properties of Porous Hybrid Materials containing Metallic Nanoparticles

Abstract

Highly microporous hybrid materials with embedded Ni or Pt nanoparticles were prepared by pyrolytic conversion of polysiloxane - metal salt precursors and characterised in terms of surface area, sorption behaviour of water and n-heptane, size and accessibility of metallic nanoparticles. Upon varying the amount of polysiloxanes carrying non-polar and polar organic groups in the precursors the surface properties of hybrid materials could be altered from strongly hydrophobic to mainly hydrophilic. The size of metallic nanoparticles was influenced by the metal content and the presence of non-reductive phenyl polysiloxane. In case of Pt, very small sizes in the nanometer regime (2-4 nm) could be obtained. During CO oxidation Pt containing ceramers showed high catalytic activity.