| dc.description.abstract | This thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, sulfonic acid (-SO3H) functionalized mesoporous silica KIT-6 was synthesized and used as heterogeneous catalyst for the esterification of oleic acid. One pot co- condensation approach was used to synthesize the -SO3H functionalized 3D mesoporous silica KIT-6 using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) as the silicon precursors. Prepared materials were characterized by SAXRD, N2 adsorption- desorption isotherm, SEM etc. –SO3H functionalized KIT-6 showed excellent catalytic activity for the esterification of oleic acid with methanol due to its high surface area, pore volume, and plenty of acidic sites in it. The effects of different parameters, such as, amount of –SO3H loading, initiator ratio, catalyst dosage and reaction temperature on the catalytic activity were also explored. KIT-6 functionalized with 10 mol% sulfonic acid groups (K6S10) was judged as the best catalyst in the optimized experimental conditions with a high conversion rate of 98% at OA/MeOH = 1:20 and a reaction time of 4 hours.
In the second part, the main work is to synthesize ruthenium nanoparticles within the pores of mesoporous silica martial (Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6) support, and use them as the catalysts for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane. The metal nanoparticles were immobilized within the support by the double agent chemical reduction method using NaBH4 and NH3BH3 as the reducing agents. The synthesized Ru (X)/Y%Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6 materials were characterized by PXRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, SEM etc. Catalyst Ru(2)/10% Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6 exhibited high catalytic activity and turnover frequency up to 290.7 min-1, activation energy of 33.82 kJ/mol. | en_US |