Hydrolysis reaction on the characterization of wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide

Wormhole-like mesostructures have promising applications in heterogeneous catalysis because channel branching within the wormhole-like mesostructures can facilitate access to active sites on the framework walls. We adopt the poly(alkylene oxide) triblock copolymer of L62 (BASF Pluronic EO₈PO₃₀EO₈) as a template to form wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide. In the hydrolysis experiment, 10 or 20% anhydrous ethanol was replaced with distilled deionized water (H₂O). The crystallinity of wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide decreases when the anhydrous ethanol solvent is replaced with H₂O. Such a decrease in the relative strength of O-W-O binding attributes to the hydrolysis of the wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide from Raman spectra. Specific surface area and average pore size of wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide decrease with the amount of H₂O replacement. The phenomenon can also be confirmed by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. These results show that the hydrolysis reactions have great significance and application for the development of wormhole-like mesoporous tungsten oxide in the future.