Short-time synthesis of SBA-15 using various silica sources

A short-time synthesis of SBA-15 is reported by using two different silica sources, sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3(9)H2O) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The SBA-15 samples obtained from both silica sources were highly ordered as evidenced by SAXS spectra showing five reflection peaks characteristic for p6mm symmetry group. While the surface areas of these samples were similar, the pore volume of the sample prepared from TEOS was slightly larger than that from sodium metasilicate. However, the latter exhibited higher microporosity and thicker pore walls. It was shown that a significant reduction of time of the self-assembly step from 24 to 2 h had no detrimental influence on the quality of SBA-15 materials.