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Preparation of porous silica microspheres using silica nanoparticles with different morphologies and their properties as catalyst carriers

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Abstract

The application of porous silica microspheres in the field of materials has made a breakthrough because of its unique properties. Nevertheless, owing to the limitation of technology, there was no simple and inexpensive method to industrialize porous silica microspheres which could be adjusted pore size and pore size distribution. In this paper, porous silica microspheres were prepared using silica nanoparticles with different morphologies and particle sizes as silica sources by the polymerization-induced colloid aggregation (PICA) method. The particle size, morphology, porosity, and thermal stability of the porous silica microspheres were analyzed by optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption analysis, and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The results showed that the porous silica microspheres prepared with branched-chain silica nanoparticles as the silica source had an extensive pore size distribution and many macro- and mesoporous structures. By changing the size and morphology of silica nanoparticles, it reached the purpose of regulating pore size and pore size distribution of porous silica microspheres. The porous silica microspheres were loaded with copper catalyst and subjected to furfural hydrogenation reaction. The results showed that the catalytic effect of the porous silica microspheres prepared with branched-chain silica as the carrier was suitable, and the catalytic efficiency was 85% when the mass ratio of urea-formaldehyde resin to silica was 1/2. It was 1.28–2.57 times higher than that of other microspheres-loaded catalysts.

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Funding

The research leading to these results received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Agreement No. 51873079.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, 336 West Road of Nan Xinzhuang, Jinan, 250022, People’s Republic of China

    Caixia Ma, Jing Hu, Zhihao Zong, Changxu Wang, Daowei Gao, Chunsheng Li & Xue Li

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  1. Caixia Ma
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  2. Jing Hu
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  3. Zhihao Zong
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  4. Changxu Wang
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  5. Daowei Gao
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  6. Chunsheng Li
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  7. Xue Li
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Contributions

CXM wrote the main manuscript test. JH and ZHZ prepared figures and tables. CXW did the characterization of the samples. DWG, CSL and XL amended the manuscript text. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xue Li.

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Ma, C., Hu, J., Zong, Z. et al. Preparation of porous silica microspheres using silica nanoparticles with different morphologies and their properties as catalyst carriers. J Porous Mater 31, 377–390 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-023-01522-3

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