Fe-SBA-15 materials with different Fe content have been prepared using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and iron nitrate (Fe (NO3)3·H2O as precursors and Pluronic P123 as structure directing agent through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. The materials were characterized by nitrogen sorption, powder X-ray diffraction and TEM. All the Fe-SBA-15 samples appeared ordered 2D hexagonal mesostructure. The BET surface area and pore diameter were about 500 m2/g and 4 nm respectively. In the reaction of phenol hydroxylation to dihydroxybenzenes, the Fe-SBA-15 materials showed good catalytic activity, giving 20.2% of phenol conversion, 58.2% of selectivity for o-dihydroxy benzene and 41.8% of selectivity for p-dihydroxy benzene. After five cycles, the product yield was 25.2%, while selectivities of o-dihydroxy benzene and p-dihydroxy benzene were 58.2% and 41.8%, respectively. All these findings indicated the potential of Fe-SBA-15-10 could be used as a cost-effective, environment-friendly catalyst.
