Characterization of Functionalized SiO2 and TiO2 catalysts

Silica and Titania based materials are largely spread due to their economic and ecofriendly features. They arequite stable in a large range of temperature and, on the surface they present various OH groups (related to theirsurface area) which can be easily chemically modified with different procedures. Depending on the introducedfunctionalizing groups, it is possible to change the starting physical and chemical properties of the support,achieving different (acidic, hydrophobic, catalytic) characteristics, that allow the materials to be used ascatalysts in several contexts.This presentation will focus on synthesis and characterization of different types of functionalized silica ortitania catalysts, applied to the biomass exploitation. [1-5] As concern the functionalization of support, bothorganic frameworks and metals nanoparticles are considered. In order to have a deep comprehension of thestructure-activity relation, the surface and structural properties of the catalysts are investigated by severaltechniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), smallangle X-ray scattering (SAXS), N2 gas-volumetric adsorption, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and acid capacity measurements.The chosen characterization techniques are, of course, correlated to the type of functionalization groups.