Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica and their Use as Templates for Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract: This thesis covers the synthesis and characterization of two types of mesoporous silica, SBA-15 silica with two-dimensional hexagonal arrangement, and SBA-16 silica with three-dimensional cubic arrangement. The obtained mesoporous materials were then used as hard templates for synthesizing of different types of nanostructures. In the first part, the effects of some synthesis parameters on the morphology and texture properties of the mesoporous silica have been studied. By varying the synthesis temperature solid spheres of SBA-16 with different sizes were synthesized and by additions of heptane as a swelling agent, SBA-16 in a hollow-sphere morphology with a large pore size was obtained. In the case of SBA-15, dispersed rods were synthesized in the presence of heptane and NH4F in a low-temperature synthesis. The length of the rods was varied by changing the concentration of HCl, and the pore size was tuned by changing the hydrothermal treatment time and temperature. Furthermore, the reaction time was decreased with a well-retained pore size and morphology. This work has resulted in SBA-15 rods with large pore sizes for this morphology. In the second part, SBA-15 and SBA-16 silica were used to synthesize different nanostructured materials such as metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. In fact, most of the work in this part is focused on the use of mesoporous silica as hard templates for synthesis of different types of nanoparticles. The synthesis of these nanoparticles was carried out by infiltration of a suitable precursor in the pores of the silica template. The mesoporous frameworks act as molds controlling the size and the final shape of the formed nanostructures. Subsequent dissolution of the silica templates by NaOH resulted in e.g., monodispersed zirconia, hematite, and cobalt nanoparticles with narrow size distributions. Functionalization of the SBA-15 surfaces was carried out in the synthesis of cobalt nanoparticles. This functionalization plays a crucial role on the infiltration and reaction of the reagents in the pores of the silica. By functionalization of the external surface, a highly hydrophobic surface was achieved, which proved to be sufficient to avoid formation of large cobalt particles outside the silica channels, while the internal functionalization enhances the attraction of cobalt ions to the silica pores, and as a result the nanoparticles grew inside these pores.