Surface sol-gel modification of mesoporous silica materials with TiO2 for the assembly of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles

The surface sol-gel method has been demonstrated to be an effective method for the modification of silica mesopore surfaces and the tuning of mesopore diameters. This layer-by-layer approach allows the control of mesopore diameters with monolayer precision. Ultrasmall gold nanoparticles were successfully prepared on surface-modified SBA-15 via a deposition-precipitation method. High catalytic activity for CO oxidation was found for such materials.