Abstract
Copper-containing SBA-16 (with Si/Cu molar ratios 22, 43 and 61) has been synthesized by one step novel "internal pH-modification method" using hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as complexing agent and internal pH-modifier. HMTA plays a critical role in material synthesis; it releases NH(3) during hydrothermal treatment to increase the internal pH of the gel that results in introduction of more amount of copper into silica framework. The synthesized material has been characterized by XRF, XRD, HRTEM, N(2) adsorption/desorption, SEM, FT-IR, diffuse reflectance UV-visible spectroscopy and (29)Si MAS NMR spectroscopy. The characterization results reveal that the synthesized materials possess ordered cubic mesoporous structure up to Si/Cu molar ratio 43; further increase in copper contents (Si/Cu = 22) lead to disordering of mesostructure. (29)Si MAS NMR results indicate that copper has been successfully incorporated into silica framework. Owing to its high surface area (983-315 m(2)/g) and copper contents, the material was applied for the adsorption desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT), wherein it exhibited good performance and reduced the sulfur contents of 40 mL of model oil with 550 ppm of sulfur (DBT) to a level of less than 1 ppm. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.