Synthesis, characterization of phenethyltrimethoxysilane (PE) modified organic-inorganic hybrid silicalite-1 molecular sieves and its transformation into solid acid materials

Organic-inorganic hybrid nanoporous materials with silicalite-1 structure were synthesized in one step co-condensation technique and subsequent transformed into solid acid materials. The tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was used as the primary inorganic silica source with the phenethyltrimethoxysilane (PE) as an organic modifier. The effect of the PE presence in the initial synthesis mixture was studied by varying the molar ratio of PE to TEOS in the range of 0.05 to 0.20. The resulting organic-inorganic hybrid materials were characterized for its crystallinity (X-ray diffraction, XRD), surface morphology (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) and elemental composition (elemental analysis). The degree of chemical interactions between the organic and inorganic phases was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The acid strength of the organic-inorganic hybrid solid acid materials was also obtained by titration technique.