Ordered mesoporous SBA-15 silica loaded with ceria at a mass ratio of CeO2/SiO2＝28.7% was synthesized by a sol-gel route using Pluronic P123 as a template, tetraethyl orthosilicate as a silica source and hydrated cerium nitrite as a precursor under an acidic condition. The as-synthesized materials were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption. Characterization revealed that the as-synthesized materials possessed an ordered hexagonal mesoporous structure similar to SBA-15. The average pore size, pore volume and specific surface area of the materials is 38.7 Å, 0.46 cm3/g and 570 m2/g, respectively. The fact that cerium species are present as highly dispersed CeO2 nanocrystals in a hexagonal matrix was confirmed by combined characterization of XRD with high-resolution TEM, selected area electron diffraction analysis and EDS.

Key words: synthesis, mesoporous, SBA-15, ceria, sol-gel