Morphology of nanostructured platinum in mesoporous materials-effect of solvent and intrachannel surface

An intrachannel surface of host silica was functionalized through the reaction of surface silanol groups with silanes to generate a monolayer of positively charged groups, and together with the strongly adsorbed and negatively charged PtCl6(2-), resulting in nanostructured platinum-mesoporous silica composites. The highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles and nanonetworks are fabricated from (CH3O)3Si(CH2)3N(CH3)3+Cl- functionalized mesoporous silica MCM-48 with H2PtCl6 in ethanol and water solvent, and characterized by PXRD, XAS, TEM, and N2 adsorption. The solvent of H2PtCl6 solution is found to affect the mobility of Pt precursors and the resulting morphology of nanostructured metallic Pt. The effect of the intrachannel surface properties on the incorporation and the morphology of nanostructured Pt on the deposition of Pt(NH3)4Cl2 and H2PtCl6 on Al-doped or C-coated mesoporous silica MCM-41 is also studied relative to that on pure silica MCM-41.