Effect of microwave irradiation on the structural, chemical, and hydrophilicity characteristics of ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15

Structural, chemical, morphological, and hydrophilic surface characteristics of SBA-15 silica synthesized by hydrothermal method in an autoclave and in a microwave-heated reactor were analyzed in this work. The influence of time and temperature on these characteristics was investigated. Materials were characterized by textural analysis (BET), FTIR, TGA, XRD, goniometer contact angle, SEM, and TEM. It was possible to obtain SBA-15 silicas assisted by microwave heating irradiation with short-time synthesis (0.5–8 h) compared with the hydrothermal classic method (24 h). Materials presented surface area between 650 and 850 m2 g−1. Through the XRD and TEM results, it was observed that mesostructured materials with two-dimensional, long-range, and hexagonal ordered channels are characteristic of SBA-15. This study showed that heating by microwave irradiation during silica synthesis generates materials with a greater amount of silanol groups. It is possible to control the surface properties of SBA-15 during the microwave-assisted synthesis through temperature tuning. Higher temperature provided SBA-15 with higher hydrophilicity.