Simultaneous fabrication of bifunctional Cu(I)/Ce(IV) sites in silica nanopores using a guests-redox strategy

Fabrication of bifunctional Cu(I)/Ce(IV) sites in mesoporous silica SBA-15 requires a series of complicated steps, including introduction of the Ce(III) precursor, calcination to generate Ce(IV), further introduction of the Cu(II) precursor, and repeated calcination to generate Cu(I). This traditional method has low efficiency and wastes energy. Here we provide a highly efficient, convenient and green strategy for the fabrication of bifunctional Cu(I)/Ce(IV) sites in mesoporous silica SBA-15, for the first time. The precursors CuCl2 and CeCl3 were simultaneously introduced into SBA-15. Based on a guests-redox strategy, both the reduction of CuCl2 to CuCl and the oxidation of CeCl3 to CeO2 could be realized in one calcination step. This strategy avoids the repeated modification process, and guarantees a high Cu(I) yield of similar to 59% without generation of toxic gas. In addition, the resultant materials show excellent performance in gas separation of C2H4 from C2H6.