Synthesis and characterization of highly dispersed molybdenum species in SBA-15 mesoporous molecular sieves

Abstract

An original pathway involving H₂O₂ is described for the incorporation of highly dispersed molybdenum oxo species into the mesoporous network of an SBA-15 type silica. This procedure requires a mixture of templating agents: the triblock copolymer EO₂₀PO₇₀EO₂₀ and the quaternary ammonium salt CTMACl, which are commonly used for SBA-15 and MCM-41 syntheses, respectively. Physicochemical techniques clearly demonstrate that the triblock surfactant/CTMACl molar ratio has to be carefully controlled in order to i) obtain a significant amount of Mo in the mesoporous silica and ii) retain the SBA-15 structure.