Textural properties of Fe-SBA-15 nanostructured materials by controlling aging time of hydrothermal synthesis

Iron-substituted SBA-15 materials (Fe-SBA-15) have been synthesized via a hydrothermal method with in situ incorporation of Fe(III) oxalate complex under strong acidic conditions. By employing the characterization techniques of XRD, UV-Vis, AAS and the physical adsorption of N 2 in combination with α s -plot method, the textural properties of Fe-SBA-15 materials with different aging time spans of hydrothermal synthesis were investigated. The resulting Fe-SBA-15 samples exhibited highly ordered mesoporous materials. As the aging time extends over a certain value, the textural properties and amount of Fe incorporated to SBA-15 changed dramatically. The total surface areas increased due to the significant increase in the micropore after the 24-hour aging time, however, the wall thickness of the mesopore and the amount of iron formed in Fe-SBA-15 declined remarkably. The desired textural properties and high amount of Fe incorporated into SBA-15 could be attained by controlling the aging time of synthesized gel. The obtained Fe-SBA-15 materials demonstrated an excellent catalytic activity in the total oxidation of phenylsulfonephthalein (phenol red).