Mesoporous Zr@KIT-6 silicas: synthesis, characterization studies and catalytic application in the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide

H 2 O 2 (hydrogen peroxide) is an effective and environmentally friendly material, and many studies have been carried out to develop new and efficient materials in recent years. Mesoporous silicas, especially KIT-6, is one of them, but there are few studies about it and its derivatives. In this study, KIT-6 silicas were synthesized hydrothermally using Pluronic P123 as a surfactant and n-butanol as a co-solvent in a mildly acidic condition. The Zr@KIT-6 silicas, prepared with various Si/Zr ratios (1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 wt%), possess a high specific surface area (739–780 m 2 /g). The synthesized materials were characterized by SEM, TEM, FT-IR, NH 3 -TPD, H 2 -TPR, ICP-OES, N 2 adsorption–desorption, and XRD methods. The surface area of the materials decreased with the increase of zirconium content in Zr@KIT-6. The high quality of cubic la3d silica was evaluated by TEM. Zr has effective and excellent performance for the H 2 O 2 decomposition reaction. The results also showed that Zr-based KIT-6 silicas were stable and reusable materials over H 2 O 2 decomposition tests. All the materials were found to be active (63–91% conversion) in the decomposition of H 2 O 2 under mild conditions.