SBA-15 mesoporous silica activated by metal ions - Verification of molecular structure on the basis of Raman spectroscopy supported by numerical simulations

In the paper we investigate the molecular structure of SBA-15 mesoporous silica containing propyl metal phosphonate groups, to examine the efficiency of synthesis route. Proposed method can be generalized and applied to synthesis efficiency examination in the case of relatively complex silica-based nanomaterials. Considered verification route is based on Raman scattering supported by numerical simulation. We demonstrated considered procedure on the example of SBA-15 mesoporous silica containing propyl phosphonate units activated by nickel, copper and iron ions. We showed that unambiguously verification of activation process related to phosphonic acid units incorporated inside SBA-15 silica into metal phosphonate groups is possible. On the base of comparative analysis of experimental and theoretical Raman spectra we were able to eliminate the case of incomplete or unsuccessful activation.