Synthesis and characterization of ordered mesoporous silica by using polystyrene microemulsion as templates

A simple room temperature synthesis of pure mesoporous silica by using a homemade and functional template: polystyrene microemulsion is reported. The process consists of HCl-catalysed sol-gel reactions of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in polystyrene microemulsion. followed by removal of the template via solvent extraction or calcining. X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscope and N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms are then used to characterize the mesostructure. The results indicate that the synthesized mesoporous silica has a large BET surface area with more than 900 m(2)/g, large pore volume with more than 0.8 cm(3)/g and ordered mesopore-structure. This provides a possible way to control the mesostructure and pore size of mesoporous materials via potential functional templates. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.