Surfactant-assisted impregnation of SBA-15 with highly dispersed copper species for CO oxidation

Copper containing SBA-15 materials has been prepared through a facile surfactant-assisted impregnation method. The surfactant contained in as-synthesized SBA-15 plays an important role to facilitate the distribution of copper species into the channels. The obtained materials have been fully characterized by several different techniques and the results show that the surfactant-assisted impregnation method is superior to the conventional impregnation method for obtaining Cu-SBA-15 with highly dispersed copper species which are mainly exist as isolated copper species and small clusters. The products exhibit superior CO oxidation activity and stability compared with that of Cu-SBA-15 prepared through the conventional wet impregnation method owning to the more finely dispersed Cu species and active sites.