The effect of hydrothermal temperature on the properties of SBA-15 materials

Abstract In present work, ordered mesoporous material SBA-15 was synthesized by using poly (alkylene oxide) block copolymer (Pluronic P123) as template and ethylsilicate as silica source in weak acid environment in a wide range of temperature. The focus of synthesis research was high hydrothermal temperature. The obtained products were characterized by various techniques, including XRD, N2 sorption isotherms, FTIR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric. The effect of hydrothermal temperature on the specific surface area, pore volume and pore size of SBA-15 products was investigated systematically. As the hydrothermal temperature increases from the 100–120 °C, the specific surface area and the pore volume of the mesoporous molecular sieve increase greatly. When the hydrothermal temperature increase further, the pore volume of the mesoporous molecular sieve increase continually. But the specific surface area decrease significantly. When the hydrothermal temperature is too high (over 140 °C), the order degree begins to decrease, So the specific surface area and pore volume decrease significantly because the pores structure have significant destruction and collapse. Mechanism and structural characteristics of P123 block copolymer could explain in detail the effect of hydrothermal temperature on the property and structure of mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15.