Synthesis, characterization and catalytic study of mesoporous carbon materials prepared via mesoporous silica using non-surfactant templating agents

Abstract

Mesostructured silica materials with surface area in the range of ~700–900 m2/g have been prepared using hydroxy-carboxylic acid compounds such as tartaric acid, malic acid and citric acid (low cost non-surfactant template/pore forming agents) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as silica source by sol-gel reaction. The templates were removed by either soxhlet extraction or calcination method. Mesoporous carbon molecular sieves were then prepared by carbonizing sucrose inside the pores of the above prepared mesoporous silica using sulfuric acid as a catalyst. The materials were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2-sorption studies, microanalysis, thermal analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The resulting carbon material shows relatively higher surface area (~1100 m2/g), narrow pore size distribution and pore diameter of 4–5 nm. The mesoporosity of carbon material arises from interconnecting channels arrangements of mesoporous silica template. The mesoporous carbon material was used as a support for the immobilization of rhodium complex [HRhCO(TPPTS)3] by ossification method. The prepared catalyst has been tested for the hydroformylation of higher olefins. The activity of the catalyst was improved by 20–30% as compared to the catalyst prepared from a conventional activated carbon support.