A systematic approach to study functionalization of MCM-41

The pore size of mesoporous silica is large enough to accommodate a variety of species to convert them to affective sensors. The high density of silanol groups on the pore wall is beneficial to the introduction of functional groups with a high coverage. Actually,various kinds of surface modifications have been conducted in providing new functions for the surfaces [1]. Among various functional groups, the introduction of the amino groups onto the mesoporous materials have great interests for preparation of sensors, catalysts and adsorbents. In this study functionalization of mesoporous MCM-41 was done using 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTS) via post-synthesis method. We tried to find optimal conditions for functionalization by variation of the solvent, temperature and time [2]. Studying the adsorption behavior of methyl orange (MO) onto the functionalized MCM-41 as an anioic dye was also performed [3]. Characterization of the modified MCM-41 was studied by BET, FTIR, XRD and UV-vis. The results obtained by now show that n-hexane as solvent, temperature of 65 ºC and a period of 6 h are adequate to provide high concentration of functional groups onto MCM-41. The high amount of ATPES concentration onto mesoporous MCM-41 increases the amount of methyl orange dye adsorption.