Simple Preparation of Novel Metal-Containing Mesoporous Starches

Metal-containing mesoporous starches have been synthesized using a simple and efficient microwave-assisted methodology followed by metal impregnation in the porous gel network. Final materials exhibited surface areas >60 m(2) g(-1), being essentially mesoporous with pore sizes in the 10-15 nm range with some developed inter-particular mesoporosity. These materials characterized by several techniques including XRD, SEM, TG/DTA and DRIFTs may find promising catalytic applications due to the presence of (hydr)oxides in their composition.