Is There Any Microporosity in Ordered Mesoporous Silicas?

The porous structure of nanostructured silicas MCM-41 and SBA-15 has been characterized using N-2 adsorption at 77 K, before and after n-nonane preadsorption, together with immersion calorimetry into liquids of different molecular dimensions. Selective blocking of the microporosity with n-nonane proves experimentally that MCM-41 is exclusively mesoporous while SBA-15 exhibits both micro- and mesopores. Additionally, N-2 adsorption experiments on the preadsorbed samples show that the microporosity on SBA-15 is located in intrawall positions, the micropore volume accounting for only similar to 7-8 % of the total pore volume. Calorimetric measurements into n-hexane (0.43 nm), 2-methylpentane (0.49 nm), and 2,2-dimethylbutane (0.56 nm) estimate the size of these micropores to be <= 0.56 nm.