Functionalization of ordered mesoporous carbons synthesized with SBA-15 silica as template

Ordered mesoporous carbons (OMC) were synthesized using mesoporous silica SBA-15 as templating material. Prepared carbons had a specific area of 570 m2/g and a pore volume of 0.37 cm3/g. Its texture and surface chemistry were modified by oxidation treatments in liquid phase using nitric acid with different concentrations as oxidizing agent for different times. The effect of liquid phase oxidation on the texture, surface chemistry and structure of ordered mesoporous carbons was studied by means of different analytical techniques as N2-physisorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), temperature programmed oxidation (TPO), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and infra-red Fourier transform spectroscopy (IRTF). During these treatments, surface oxygen groups were created and their number was function of the concentration of the oxidizing agent used and the treatment time. Nitration reactions occurred simultaneously to oxidation reactions through HNO3 treatments. On the other hand, the porous structure of OMC was hexagonally ordered and it was maintained after oxidation treatments in nitric acid, as XRD and TEM showed.