Abstract:The highly ordered mesoporous materials Zr-Ce-SBA-15 were synthesized by a hydrothermal route using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a silica source, Pluronic P123 as a template, zirconyl chloride and cerous nitrate as precursors under a moderate acidic condition. The main strategy of this method was to utilize the acidity self-generated in the aqueous solutions, where no addition of mineral acids was necessary. Through a simple adjustment of the initial reactant molar ratio in the synthesis gel and the crystallization temperature, the morphology of mesoporous materials could be controlled efficaciously. The as-synthesized materials were characterized by XRD, TEM, SEM, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and N2 adsorption. Results indicate that the Zr and Ce species are incorporated into the framework of SBA-15. The obtained Zr-Ce-SBA-15 materials with different nZr(Ce):nSi molar ratios of 0.03, 0.05 and 0.10 possess 2D-hexagonal P6mm mesoporous structure similar to SBA-15. In addition, the morphology of the bimetallic Zr-Ce-SBA-15 mesoporous materials varies with different nZr(Ce):nSi molar ratios and different crystallization temperatures. When the nZr(Ce):nSi ratio is 0.05 and the crystallization temperature 100 oC, the material of Zr-Ce-SBA-15 displays hexagonal-platelet morphology. With increasing of crystallization temperature, the morphology of the bimetallic Zr-Ce-SBA-15 mesoporous materials is changed from hexagonal-platelet to circular-platelet.