Synthesis and catalytic performance of hierarchical TS-1 directly using agricultural products sucrose as meso/macropores template

• The hierarchical TS-1 was synthesized with agricultural products sucrose as template.
• The connected hierarchical pores could be accessible from external surface.
• The pore size of samples can be adjusted by tuning the heat-treatment temperature.
• The strong hydrophilicity decreases catalytic activity of samples in BT oxidation.

Hierarchical TS-1 was synthesized by dry gel conversion (DGC) technique with cheap sucrose as the meso/macropores template. The effects of the sucrose/SiO2 molar ratio and the heat-treatment temperature of dry-gel on hierarchical TS-1 were also studied. Except for sucrose, the purely natural sugar juice directly squeezed from the sugarcane was also adopted to synthesize the hierarchical TS-1. The obtained hierarchical TS-1 were characterized by a series of techniques including powder X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectroscopy, mercury porosimetry, N2 physical adsorption–desorption and scanning electron microscopy. The hierarchical TS-1 possessed well connected network of mesopores and macropores that could be fully accessible from the external surface, which was confirmed by N2 adsorption, mercury porosimetry and scanning electron microscope. The catalytic properties of the samples were investigated by the oxidation of two sulfur compounds including thiophene (Th) and benzothiophene (BT) with H2O2 as oxidant. The hierarchical TS-1 not only exhibited higher catalytic activity than TS-1 in the Th oxidation, but also gave a high activity in the oxidation of bulky molecular sulfur compound BT that could not be catalyzed by TS-1. With the heat-treatment temperature rising, the hydrophilic property of the hierarchical TS-1 samples reduced and the content of framework Ti increased, which could be favorable to improve the catalytic activity of the hierarchical TS-1 in the oxidation of BT.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide