Structure of the surface of synthetic titanosilica

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ESCA), high-resolution NMR (on 29Si nuclei), and mass spectrometry have been used to investigate a synthetic titanosilica (TS) containing 28–37% titanium dioxide. It has been found that titanium siloxane bonds can form in synthetic TS, regardless of the fact that silicon-oxygen polyhedra predominate in the surface layer. The presence of titanium ions in the surface layer of TS leads to its significant rearrangement; this reduces significantly the concentration of centers for the strong adsorption of water.