Ga-SBA-3 A novel nanostructured material: synthesis, characterization and application

This paper reports for the first time the incorporation of gallium into the structure of the mesoporous SBA-3 material in order to modify the intrinsic acidity of the material. The study indicates the effective incorporation of Ga into a network in tetrahedral form, with most in the interior of the lodging and a low proportion on the external surface. Gallium was introduced via post-synthesis using Ga-nitrate in appropriate conditions. The nanostructured material was characterized by ICP, x-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance-MAS, x-ray photoelectron spectra, FTIR, SEM, transmission electron microscopy and UV–vis. Pyridine was used as a probe molecule for the determination of its acidity following the amount and type of acidic sites by FTIR. In addition, aniline adsorption/desorption studies and subsequent in situ polymerization, polyaniline (PANI)/Ga-SBA-3, were carried out with the aim of producing a nanocomposite with conductive properties. The original material had good structural regularity and acidity of Bronsted and Lewis; the PANI/Ga-SBA-3 composite also showed a conductivity of 2.5 × 10−3 S cm−1, higher than that of its homologs Al-SBA-3 and Al-MCM- 41.