Issue 105, 2014

Solvent-tuning of ordered mesoporous silicas prepared through evaporation-induced self-assembly templated by poly(ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone)

Abstract

In this study, we employed the diblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone (PEO-b-PCL, EO114CL84) as a template to prepare mesoporous silica materials while controlling the tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)-to-PEO-b-PCL ratio and testing the effects of various solvents [CH2Cl2, tetrahydrofuran (THF), acetone]. Small-angle X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms revealed that the mesostructures of these mesoporous silicas were influenced by the TEOS content and the solvent. Acetone was superior to CH2Cl2 and THF as the solvent when forming more-ordered mesostructures through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA), with the degree of the ordered structure increasing upon increasing the TEOS–to–PEO-b-PCL ratio. In addition, we obtained a long-range-ordered body-centered cubic (bcc) mesoporous structure through the EISA process when the TEOS/PEO-b-PCL ratio was 5 : 1 in acetone; such structures did not form when CH2Cl2 or THF were the solvents. Because the concentration of the template during the EISA process depended on the solvent evaporation rate and solubility, we could prepare highly ordered mesoporous silicas having narrow pore size distributions and various morphologies merely through selection of an appropriate solvent.

Graphical abstract: Solvent-tuning of ordered mesoporous silicas prepared through evaporation-induced self-assembly templated by poly(ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone)

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Sep 2014
Accepted
06 Nov 2014
First published
07 Nov 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 61012-61021

Author version available

Solvent-tuning of ordered mesoporous silicas prepared through evaporation-induced self-assembly templated by poly(ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone)

W. Chu, C. Lin and S. Kuo, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 61012 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA11569D

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