ABSTRACT
Mesoporous silicas have been widely used to support transition metal oxides for catalytic applications because these supports are attractive for their high surface area (1000 m2/g), tuneable pore size (1.0-30.0 nm) and promotion of well-dispersed active metal sites (Kresge et al., 1992; Zhao et al., 1998). Because the nanochannels of the calcined mesoporous silicas can absorb a huge amount of water from atmosphere, which inhibits metal oxides grafting, a non-polar solvent (such as, toluene) and moisture-free reaction condition were needed to prevent the facile and fast hydrolysis/condensation reactions of the water-sensitive metal alkoxides in many typical metal-oxides grafting cases. Thus, a simple and versatile process for grafting high-content metal oxides onto mesoporous silicas is still desirable.
