A Facile and Rapid Sonochemical Route to Synthesize Highly Ordered Mesoporous Silicas MCM-48 and Al-MCM-48 with Ia3d Cubic Structure Using Gemini Surfactant

摘要

Highly ordered cubic mesoporous silicas MCM-48 and Al-MCM-48 with high surface areas were successfully synthesized using Gemini surfactant as template under basic conditions within a very short time period with the aid of ultrasonic irradiation. The introduction of ultrasonic irradiation as an intermediate synthesis step before the hydrothermal treatment has reduced the total synthesis time significantly from 7 days to 24 hours, which is much shorter than the required time for the conventional synthesis of MCM-48 directly via the hydrothermal route alone. The structural and textural properties of the resultant materials can be finely tuned by varying the ultrasonic irradiation time for pure MCM-48 and Al-MCM-48 with various Si/Al ratios. The final products exhibited well ordered cubic Ia3d mesostructure with surface areas in the range of 968-1861 m~2g~(-1), pore volumes of 0.52-0.91 cm~3g~(-1) and pore diameters in the range of 1.9-2.9 nm, which are comparable to the conventional analogues.