No abstract

Hierarchical porous materials attract considerable attentions due to their interesting structures and superior adsorption capabilities. In this work, a novel macro- and meso-porous hierarchical material, MCM-41/diatomite, has successfully been synthesized from natural diatomite and tetraethoxysilane by basic hydrothermal method. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, low angle XRD and SEM analysis were carried out to character the multiple porous structure and morphology of MCM-41/diatomite. The resultant compound displayed high specific surface area (862~1041 m2/g) and macro-meso-porous hierarchical structure. The morphology of MCM-41/diatomite could be various, such as worm-like, grape-like, flocky, and acaleph-like, due to different ratio between TEOS, PEG, and NaOH. Moreover, the results of adsorption experiments show that some of the resultant MCM-41/diatomite display stronger adsorption capabilities than simply mesoporous MCM-41, due to the macro-meso-porous hierarchical structure, which would further extend the application of MCM-41/diatomite as adsorbent and catalyst support.