The present study aims to develop strategies for the pore structure control in mesoporous metal oxides synthesized by non-hydrolytic sol-gel (NHSG). Mesoporous metal oxides are oxide materials with large surface areas, large pore volumes, and pore widths in the range of 2–50 nm. Thanks to their well-developed pore structure, they are used across many fields and have numerous applications, including in catalysis, energy storage and conversion, adsorption, sensing, and optical applications. Mesoporous metal oxides are often synthesized using sol-gel process, enabling synthesis in a wide range of forms, such as powders, thin films, fibers, and monoliths. However, the standard sol-gel process is not readily applicable to transition metal oxides and to mixed metal oxides. NHSG addresses these limitations by utilizing a sol-gel chemistry that does not involve water. In NHSG, the M–O–M bridges are formed by condensation of metal alkoxides with metal halides. As a result, NHSG offers robust synthesis of mesoporous transition and mixed metal oxides. However, there are few strategies to control the pore structure of the materials synthesized by NHSG. In this study, a number of templating agents compatible with NHSG synthesis were identified and studied. Mesoporous titania, as a model transition metal oxide, was synthesized using NHSG in the presence of the templates and the resulting materials were characterized using N<sub>2</sub> adsorption–desorption measurements, powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate templating resulted in titania with larger specific surface area and pore volume.

Pore structure control in mesoporous metal oxides synthesized by non-hydrolytic sol-gel method

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