Support Effects from Surface-Modified Mesostructured Substrates

Support Effects from Surface-Modified Mesostructured Substrates 

The key effect of oxide supports on the catalytic activities of metal particles is exerted through the interface between oxides and metal particles. The key objective of this study is to develop synthesis methodologies for tailoring this interface. Here, an SSG approach was introduced to modify the surface of mesoporous silica materials with ultrathin films of titanium oxide so that the uniform deposition of gold precursors on ordered mesoporous silica materials by DP could be achieved without the constraint of the low lEP of silica. The surface sol-gel process was originally developed by Kunitake and coworkers.This novel technology enables molecular-scale control of film thickness over a large 2-D substrate area and can be viewed as a solution-based 

FIGURE 5.5. Pore size distributions as a function of the number of Xi02 layers. 

Another consequence of this surface sol-gel process on SBA-15 is the reduction of the surface silanol groups induced by the condensation reaction with titaniumbutoxide. The reaction, after hydrolysis, converts surface silanol functionality, (SiO)3SiOH, into Ti-OH functionality. Given the similar electronegativity of silicon (1.8) and titanium (1.7), the expected consequence of this modification in the solid state Si NMR is a decrease in the band and a corresponding increase in the Q band that is, the OTi(OH)3 and OSi(OH)3 ligands will cause equivalent NMR shift perturbations on the substituted silicon site. 

The solid-state Si SPE NMR spectra of SBA-15 and the titania surface-coated SBA-15 (Ti-SBA-15) are in accord with this expectation. The spectrum of SBA-15 displays a broad as)mimetric peak at 109 ppm (Q sites) with shoulders at —101 ppm (Q sites) and 90 ppm(Q sites) in the area ratio 79 19 2. The NMR spectrum of Ti-SBA-15 (one layer) shows a reduction of the band intensity relative to the intensity. The normalized Q Q Q site populations become 85 13 2. No asymmetry is observed in the Q site band. Repetition of the monolayer deposition to form a double layer of titania on silica yields a material whose Si NMR spectrum is indistinguishable from that of the Ti-SBA-15 with a monolayer coverage. As expected, the titania-insulated silica resonances are unperturbed by the second titania layer. 

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