Effect of Ni-doping on the pore structure of pure silica MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieve under microwave irradiation

Long-range and ordered Ni-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves with different amount of nickel were successfully synthesized using sodium silicate and nickel chloride as raw materials and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template by microwave irradiation method. The structure, morphology, crystalline size, specific surface area and pore size distribution of the as-synthesized samples were characterized by means of small-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N2 physical adsorption, respectively. The experimental results show that Ni-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves were successfully synthesized under microwave irradiation, and the ordering of the pore channels of the mesostructure was improved after incorporation of nickel into MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieve framework. The synthesized samples were calcined at 550 °C for 10 h, the template was effectively removed. A large specific surface area and a more uniform pore distribution were obtained for Ni-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieve.