Improving mechanical stability of SBA-15 monoliths prepared from polymeric scaffolds replication using bentonite clay
摘要
The preparation of porous yet mechanically stable centimetric monoliths remains challenging using traditional methods. Herein, hierarchical SBA-15-based porous monoliths, with three levels of porosity (micro- and mesopores from the pores arrangement of the silica structure, and macropores from the replication of polymer beads), were prepared by simple inverse-opal technique. Though the addition of bentonite and proper thermal treatment, solids with specific surface areas above 300 m2/g and resistance toward compression above 50 N were obtained, which is coherent with a use as heterogeneous catalyst supports.