Synthesis of mono-dispersed mesoporous silica spheres with highly ordered hexagonal regularity using conventional alkyltrimethylammonium halide as a surfactant

Abstract

Mono-dispersed mesoporous silica spheres with highly ordered hexagonal regularity were obtained with tetramethoxysilane (TMOS)–alkyltrimethylammonium chloride–methanol–water–sodium hydroxide. Just by changing the methanol ratio in the solvent, mono-dispersed particles were obtained with C₁₄TMACl, C₁₆TMACl and C₁₈TMACl as surfactants under the same reactant concentrations. The adsorption properties of the samples were specific surface areas of 1150–1200 m² g⁻¹ and pore volumes of 0.60–0.81 cm³ g⁻¹. Work is underway to explore new potential applications of these materials which possess both mono-dispersion characteristics and ordered mesoporous regularity with various mean pore sizes and particle diameters.