Synthesis of Highly Porous Metal Oxide Nanoparticles for Adsorption Applications

Abstract

Herein, we report a general and straightforward synthesis method for large-pore highly mesoporous metal oxide nanoparticles via a modified inverse micelle formation. The role of diols as solvents has been demonstrated and extended to other metal oxides using ethylene glycol. After scanning most of the metals from the periodic table, magnesium and calcium from the s-block; tin from the p-block; vanadium, nickel, zinc, zirconium, and hafnium from the d-block; and lanthanum and cerium from the f-block elements, all these have been successfully synthesized as large-pore-diameter metal oxides. Because of thermodynamic stability of chelate formation, ethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, and 1,5-pentanediol give a higher pore diameter, whereas a further increase in the diol carbon chain (1,6-hexanediol and 1,12-dodecandiol) leads to pore contraction. By varying the synthesis temperature, the effect of viscosity on the pore diameter has also been demonstrated. Potential applications of oxides of magnesium have been tested for carbon dioxide capture and adsorption of macromolecules such as proteins and lipids and small molecules such as curcumin, dopamine, and sucrose. As predicted, larger-pore-diameter and higher-pore-volume mesoporous magnesium oxide shows higher carbon dioxide capture and adsorption compared to commercial magnesium oxide. A mechanism for the higher pore diameters of mesoporous metal oxide nanomaterials has been proposed based on the results and previous reported literature studies.

NaBr-Assisted Aqueous Synthesis of Perovskite-Embedded PbBr(OH) Hierarchical Nanostructures for Dye Photodegradation

“…As shown in Figure S23b, the microflowers have a narrow pore size distribution with the most probable pore size of 2.27 nm. The porous structure of the photocatalyst may facilitate the adsorption for the dye molecules . Additionally, the nanoplates of the hierarchical structure have the ability to act as “mirrors”, which improves the photo absorption by enhancing the reflection among the nanoplates .…”

“…The porous structure of the photocatalyst may facilitate the adsorption for the dye molecules. 61 Additionally, the nanoplates of the hierarchical structure have the ability to act as "mirrors", which improves the photo absorption by enhancing the reflection among the nanoplates. 62 All these features facilitate the photodegradation of dyes for the hierarchical CsPbBr 3 -embedded PbBr(OH) photocatalysts.…”

Microporous Borocarbonitrides BxCyNz: Synthesis, Characterization, and Promises for CO2 Capture

“…Among all materials considered for these applications, porous materials tend to be the most promising [ 5 ]. In terms of porosity (micro-, meso-, and macroporosity), structure (crystalline, amorphous) or composition (oxides [ 7 ], hybrids [ 8 ], MOFs [ 9 ], zeolites [ 10 ], ceramics [ 11 ], etc. ), the variety of porous materials is extremely vast [ 12 ].…”

Highly Mesoporous MoO3 Catalysts for Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution

“…Metal dissolution methods are little similar to the inverse micelle methods, except the precursor used here is directly metal . Hard templates imply the use of solid materials such as silica and carbon, whereas soft templates imply the use of fluid-like materials such as Pluronic surfactants. , Although hard templating methods are more systematic in giving desired results and are quite reproducible, only very few hard templates are available along with the facts that they are costly, time consuming, and contain complicated procedures. On the other hand, the soft-templating method refers to the coassembly of surfactant molecules and guest molecules into an ordered structure, which after calcination leads to mesostructured materials .…”