Aerosol-Assisted Synthesis of Sn-Si Composite Oxide Microspheres with the Hollow Mesoporous Structure for Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation

Tetravalent Sn species, such as zeolite or oxide, possess Lewis acidic properties, and thus exhibit prominent catalytic performance in several reactions when they are incorporated into the silica framework. Unfortunately, the synthesis of Sn-based zeolite (Sn-Beta) usually suffers from several drawbacks, including a long crystallization time, limited framework Sn content and complex synthesis steps. Sn-based composite oxides are favored in the industry, due to their simple synthesis steps and easy control of their pore structure, morphology and Sn content. In this work, an aerosol-assisted method is used to prepare Sn-Si composite oxide microspheres, using CTAB as template. The method is based on the formation of aerosol from a solution of Sn, Si precursors and a template (CTAB). The introduction of CTAB causes the surface tension of the atomized droplets to decrease. During the fast drying of the droplets, the Sn-Si composite oxide microspheres with a concave hollow morphology were first formed. After calcination, calibrated mesopores of 2.3 nm were also formed, with a specific surface area of 1260 m2/g and a mesopores ratio of 0.84. Sn species are incorporated in the silica network, mainly in the form of single sites. The resulting material proved to exhibit high catalytic performances in the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of 2-adamantanone by using H2O2 as green oxidant, which was mainly attributed to the enhancement of the access to the catalytic tin sites through both the continuous hollow and mesopore channels, which have a 52% conversion of 2-adamantanone after 3 h of reaction. This method is simple, convenient, cheap and can be continuously produced, meaning it has broad potential for industrial application.