Synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles supported on highly ordered Biphenylene-Bridged Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica

Biphenylene-Bridged Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica (Bph-PMO) has been successfully synthesized using sol-gel method in the presence of Octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (ODTMABr) surfactant as a template. Furthermore, Bph-PMO has been functionalized using amine (NH2-Bph-PMO) in a two-step reaction, comprising nitration using HNO3 65% / H2SO4 96% and reduction with SnCl2 / HCl 37%. The white powder of Bph-PMO and the pale yellow powder of NH2-BPh-PMO were characterized using FTIR, XRD, and TEM. Bph-PMO and NH2-Bph-PMO showed long order periodicity between 2θ from 7.5-38.0 (7.5°, 14.9°, 22.5°, 30.1°, and 38.0°). The SEM images confirmed that all materials have uniform spherical morphology. Impregnation and reduction of silver nanoparticles in NH2-Bph-PMO have been carried out using AgNO3 as a precursor and NaBH4 as a reducing agent. The TEM characterization showed that the structure of NH2-Bph-PMO material is confirmed to have a hexagonal mesoporous structure with molecular periodicity. While in Ag/NH2-Bph-PMO has homogeneous particle size distribution of 240-280 nm. The crystalline size of silver nanoparticles on the surface of NH2-Bph-PMO calculated using the Debye-Scherrer equation is 8.05 nm. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption showed NH2-Bph-PMO and Ag/NH2-Bph-PMO were classified into mesoporous materials with pore diameters of 3.3 nm and 3.2 nm, respectively.