A Facile Method for the Direct Introduction of FeO_x in Mesoporous AMS Through A Templating Route (S⁻[MN]⁺I⁻) and Its Catalytic Application

A facile method has been developed to incorporate FeO_x into the channels of anionic surfactant-templated mesoporous silica (AMS). This synthesized method was based on a novel templating route (S⁻[MN]⁺I⁻), in which Sar-Na (N-Lauroylsarcosine sodium) was employed as structure-directing agent (S⁻), Fe ion functionalized APATES (N-[3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine) as co-structure directing agent ([MN]⁺). The Fe ion functionalized APATES (Fe[APATES]⁺) could establish a critical interaction between the surfactant head group and silica species by counterion-mediated interaction during the synthesis process. The synthesized samples were characterized with XRD, N₂ adsorption, XPS, FT-IR, UV-vis, H₂-TPR, TEM. The results revealed that FeO_x species could be highly dispersed onto the pore channel surface and have a strong interaction with the silica wall. Furthermore, this catalyst of FeO_x-AMS exhibited high catalytic performances for the hydroxylation of phenol.