Photo-assisted synthesis of V and Ti-containing MCM-41 under UV light irradiation and their reactivity for the photooxidation of propane

V and Ti-containing mesoporous molecular sieves MCM-41 were prepared using a photo-assisted synthesis method with UV light irradiation of the starting solutions at room temperature within a short synthesis time. The prepared V-MCM-41 showed high reactivity for the photocatalytic partial oxidation of propane into acetone. This reaction was enhanced on the V–Ti-MCM-41 catalyst with a higher acetone yield and selectivity than for V-MCM-41. After quenching, the recovery of the photoluminescence of V–Ti-MCM-41 proceeded more efficiently than that of V-MCM-41 by evacuation at 295 K. These results suggest that the excited state of the V-oxide moieties in V–Ti-MCM-41 interacts more weakly with the O2 molecules, leading to the suppression of further oxidation of the photo-formed acetone into CO2.