A novel hollow sphere mesoporous material synthesized by using DADD template and embedding Nd into framework simultaneously

A hollow sphere neodymium embedded mesoporous silica material (NEMS) has been synthesized successfully by using neutral 1,12-diaminododecane as template and embedding Nd into the framework simultaneously. It is interesting that a lamellar structured material with MSU-V structure was obtained if only DADD was used as template without embedding of Nd. The synthesized materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET method, thermal gravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The hollow sphere morphology was observed by TEM images and clearly revealed the structure of NEMS molecular sieves. Both XRD and XPS results confirmed that the Nd atoms were incorporated into the framework of mesoporous materials. The TG/DTA results verified the good thermal stability of the synthesized NEMS material. The surface area of samples with Si/Nd molar ratio from 10 to 60 reached from 543 to 1103 m2 g−1, respectively. It also found that the Nd embedded mesoporous silica material showed good catalytic activity and selectivity towards the oxidation of styrene, proportional to the neodymium content in the catalysts.