Bimodal Mesoporous Silica Nanotubes Fabricated by Dual Templates of CTAB and Bare Nanocrystalline Cellulose

Mesoporous nanomaterials have important applications in the fields of biochemistry and materials and thus have recently attracted much attention. In this investigation, silica nanotubes with bimodal mesopores were fabricated using dual templates of bare nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) and surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The prepared mesoporous silica nanotubes coined the shape of NCC, with lengths of around 100-150 nm, outer diameters in the range of 30-40 nm, and thicknesses of shell of about 10-15 nm. BET measurement displayed that the obtained sample has a specific surface area up to 1182 m(2)/g, while the BJH pore size distribution showed that it has featured bimodal mesoporous structures, with 10 nm inner cores originated from the biotemplate NCC and 3 nm mesopores generated in the wall of nanotubes by CTAB. Due to the superhigh surface area and unique mesoporous structures, silica nanotubes obtained by this approach may have numerous potential applications.