Chemical coating of the aluminum oxides onto mesoporous silicas by a one-pot grafting method

Using a suitable solvent (such as, 1-propanol) that prevents the self-condensation of aluminum iso-propoxide and extract the quaternary ammonium surfactant out of the nanochannels, a high-coverage aluminum oxide (Al/Si = 0.3-0.5) can be chemically coated onto acid-made mesoporous silica. The aluminum oxide coated mesoporous silica has the both advantages of aluminum oxide (highly hydrothermal stability) and mesoporous materials (large pore size of 2.7 nm, high surface area of around 800 m²/g, and well-ordered mesostructure). With the well-dispersity, high accessibility and large pore size, the aluminum oxide coated mesoporous silica was supposed to be an acid-catalyst for large molecules.