IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCTION PROCEDURE AND DETERMINATION OF CATALYTIC ACTIVITY FOR FE2O3 CONTAINING MICROSPHERES ENCAPSULATED WITH SILICA

Abstract

The procedures followed in the synthesis of microspheres including heat treatment, calcination and the use of surfactant cause increase in costs and difficulties in industrial applications. In order to overcome these difficulties and to minimize the costs arising from additional steps in synthesis, a facile procedure that did not require the use of surfactant and calcination steps, for the synthesis of Fe2O3 containing, mesoporous microspheres was developed and applied with varying amounts of Fe2O3 in the structure. The presence of crystal Fe2O3 phases in microsphere and formation of regular microspheres with homogeneous iron (Fe) dispersion were illustrated with characterization analyses. Microspheres, tested in liquid phase decomposition of H2O2, were shown to be catalytically active. Evaluation of results indicated that Fe2O3 containing microspheres synthesized with this new procedure had been promising as an alternative for use in acid catalyzed reactions.