Structural change and characterization in nitrogen-incorporated SBA15 oxynitride mesoporous materials via different thermal history

Work on the characterization and structural change of nitrogen-containing SBA15 materials under heat treatment is described in this paper. The SBA15 oxynitride materials, characterized by high surface area, big mesopores (above 6 nm) and good order, were synthesized through treating pure silica SBA15 mesoporous molecular sieves at high temperatures with ammonia. The temperature controlled the nitrogen content of the oxynitride materials. 29Si MAS NMR and FTIR confirmed that nitrogen was incorporated into the SBA15 framework. HRTEM, powder XRD and N2 sorption evidenced the good structural ordering of the nitrided SBA15 materials. It was found that the oxynitride materials went through a mesopore structural change under heating in both inert atmosphere and air when the treatment temperature was 600 °C or less. This kind of mesoporous oxynitride sieve with big mesopores and excellent thermal stability could be used as a kind of solid base catalyst especially for the large molecule interaction.