Synthesis of hierarchically ordered dye-functionalised mesoporous silica with macroporous architecture by dual templating

Mesostructured silica functionalised with the dye moiety, (2,4-dinitrophenylamine), has been prepared with bimodal pore size distribution. Co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane and 3-(2,4-dinitrophenylamino)propyltriethoxysilane was used to covalently couple the organic chromophore into the wall structure of a silica mesophase formed by surfactant templating. This process was spatially patterned at the macroscale by confining the evaporation-induced precipitation within the regular voids of a colloidal crystal comprising 140 nm-sized polystyrene spheres. Post-synthetic removal of the latex and surfactant templates produced a hierarchically ordered organo-functionalised silica phase.