Thick pore wall and strong stability of mesoporous silica supported HPW materials: Highly efficient catalysts for cellulose hydrolysis reaction

Without the addition of traditional hydrochloric acid, the thick pore walls of ordered mesoporous silica-supported HPW materials were prepared by one-pot co-condensation technology with phosphotungstic acid (HPW) as the acidic medium and active center. Compare with traditional HPW supported SBA-15 materials (HPW/SBA-15) which are synthesized in hydrochloric acid solution, the characterization results show that the pore wall thickness of the prepared HPW/OMS is 1 nm thicker than the traditional materials. The heterogeneous catalytic system provides a high cellulose conversion of 94.1% with 61.2% yield from reducing sugars. Furthermore, the solid acid catalyst could be easily recovered and recycled up to five times without significant loss of activity with no leaching of species to the reaction mixture.