Facile assembly of dispersed ZrMCM-41 nanoparticles promoted in-situ by zirconium salt

Abstract

Mesoporous ZrMCM-41 nanoparticles were synthesized by a usual way where tetraethyl-orthosilicate (TEOS) and zirconium nitrate were used as the inorganic precursors. The obtained nanoscale ZrMCM-41 was characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 physis-sorption, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Characterization results revealed that zirconium salt added in the synthesis had a crucial effect on the assembly of nanoscale ZrMCM-41 with relatively uniform particle size, which was rarely observed in reported studies for ZrMCM-41 synthesized using the similar method. Meanwhile, the possible mechanism behind the synthesis was discussed based on the character of hydrolysis and condensation of TEOS and the mild acidic environment induced by the hydrolysable zirconium salt under aqueous conditions. Thus obtained nanoscale ZrMCM-41 with developed pore structures may be advantageous to general applications in catalysis or adsorption host-guest chemistry in terms of efficient mass transport of guest molecules.