Graphene: a novel template for controlling the microstructures of mesoporous silica

Abstract

This study presents the use of graphene sheets as a novel template to control the microstructure of mesoporous silica. The impurity-doped silica is confirmed to be under the pseudo-softening state at temperatures ≥600 °C. The mechanical strength of graphene sheets, catalytically formed in the same temperature range by the presence of Co catalysts, forces the partial transformation of mesoporous impurity-doped silica from 2D hexagonal (p6mm) to the lamellar phase. A mechanism for tailoring the microstructure of mesoporous silica is proposed in this work. This study opens a new way for simply controlling the microstructure of mesoporous silica.