Abstract
The present study investigates the direct one step hydrothermal synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) Ti-SBA-16 (cubic,
Im3m
) by optimizing with ammonium fluoride (F/Si ratio ≤0.05), hydrothermal heating (40–130 °C) and aging time (24–120 h). The effective 3D mesoordering through silica condensation, in less acidic environment, co-solvent
n
-butanol and fluoride was observed through small angle X-ray diffraction, N
2
physisorption technique (BET),
29
Si-MAS NMR, transmission electron microscope and UV–visible spectroscopy. The study shows the variability of Si/Ti atomic ratios (249-9) of TiSBA-16 with improved surface area between 799 and 910 m
2
/g at average pore diameter of 8.7 nm. A test reaction of cyclohexene oxidation shows that TiSBA-16 (22) is more selective towards 2-cyclohexen-1-one (58%) formation.