Formation of a New Ia3̄d Cubic Meso-Structured Silica via Triblock Copolymer-Assisted Synthesis

Abstract

A new mesoporous silica structure with cubic Iad symmetry has been synthesized. The structure has very large unit cell dimensions, up to 250 A in the as-synthesized form and 222 A after calcination, and the surface area is around 700 m2/g. The syntheses were done according to well-established synthesis conditions with the triblock copolymers Pluronics P103 or P123, except for the addition of NaI to the synthesis mixture. Small-angle X-ray scattering revealed that the sample has Iad symmetry. According to electron micrographs, the structure is similar to that of MCM-48, and we thus propose that the structure lies on the gyroid minimal surface.

Multiple Functionalization of Mesoporous Silica in One‐Pot: Direct Synthesis of Aluminum‐Containing Plugged SBA‐15 from Aqueous Nitrate Solutions

“…[51] The resulting cubic mesostructure is maintained after calcination at 823 K in air, which implies its high thermal stability. [52] If the added amount of HCl is further increased to give a HCl/ Si molar ratio of 3/1 (the final sample is denoted as F3+3HCl), the peak intensity of the cubic (220) plane becomes more intense, which indicates that a cubic Ia3d structure is gradually evolving.…”

Surfactant-templated nanomaterials synthesis

“…Removal of the surfactant gave a mesoporous material with a narrow pore size distribution centered at 38 Å, which fitted well with the length of two extended hydrophobic tails. Mesoporous silica with a similar bicontinuous cubic structure has later been synthesized using an EO-PO-EO block copolymer as template [67]. Under normal conditions this procedure lead to a two-dimensional hexagonal structure but addition of NaI directed the synthesis into the material with cubic symmetry, another example of the effect of salt addition.…”

Volumes of aqueous block copolymers based on poly(propylene oxides) and poly(ethylene oxides) in a large temperature range: A quantitative description

“…Experimental (s) apparent molar volumes of EO 316 PO 94 in water (1 g AE dm À3 ) as functions of temperature. Lines are calculations performed by using equations (1) to (6). Data are from reference [21].…”

“…Silica nanoparticle [5] with a well-ordered mesostructure were synthesized by using a cationic surfactant as a templating agent and EO a PO b EO a as suppressant of grain growth. Finally, EO a PO b EO a has demonstrated to be especially versatile in the synthesis [6] of mesoporous silica the characteristics of which are established by the size of the copolymer blocks and temperature. An important synthesis parameter is temperature because the copolymers specificity is the thermo-sensitivity.…”