Mesoporous materials photochemical reactions

Furthermore, silica-based systems received attention as effective catalysts for several photochemical reactions, e.g olefin photo-isomerisation [12], olefin photo-oxidation [13-15], photomethatesis [16] and methane coupling [17]. Recently, it was also reported that silica mesoporous materials are more active photocatalysts than amorphous silica [18]. Among them, Mg/Si02 systems [13] were found to act as catalysts for the photo-oxidation of propene to propene oxide in the presence of molecular oxygen, which is an attractive path for the production of this industrially important chemical. 

Ogawa M., Kuroda K., Mori J.-I. Aluminium-containing mesoporous silica films as nano-vessels for organic photochemical reactions. Chem. Commun. 2000a 2441-2442 Ogawa M., Masukawa N. Preparation of transparent thin films of lamellar, hexagonal and cubic silica-surfactant mesostructured materials by rapid solvent evaporation methods. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 2000b 38 35 1... 

Zeolite catalysts incorporated or encapsulated with transition metal cations such as Mo, or Ti into the frameworks or cavities of various microporous and mesoporous molecular sieves were synthesized by a hydrothermal synthesis method. A combination of various spectroscopic techniques and analyses of the photocatalytic reaction products has revealed that these transition metal cations constitute highly dispersed tetrahedrally coordinated oxide species which enable the zeolite catalysts to act as efficient and effective photocatalysts for the various reactions such as the decomposition of NO into N2 and O2 and the reduction of CO2 with H2O into CH3OH and CH4. Investigations on the photochemical reactivities of these oxide species with reactant molecules such as NOx, hydrocarbonds, CO2 and H2O showed that the charge transfer excited triplet state of the oxides, i.e., (Mo - O ), - O ), and (Ti - O ), plays a significant role in the photocatalytic reactions. Thus, the present results have clearly demonstrated the unique and high photocatalytic reactivities of various microporous and mesoporous zeolitic materials incorporated with Mo, V, or Ti oxide species as well as the close relationship between the local structures of these transition metal oxide species and their photocatalytic reactivities. 

---