Issue 15, 2011

Hierarchically porous silica monoliths with tuneable morphology, porosity, and mechanical stability

Abstract

Colloids have been used as sacrificial templates to produce porous materials with controllable morphology and pore sizes. Ceramic particles were employed to prepare porous ceramics and strong composite materials by freeze-casting. However, highly porous monodisperse microspheres have been rarely used as building blocks to obtain hierarchically porous structures. In the present study, porous monodisperse silica microspheres were prepared by a modified Stöber method and then used as building blocks to produce porous silica with meso-/micro-pores and macropores by a controlled freezing approach. The macropore morphologies could be tuned with the addition of surfactants in the silica colloidal suspensions during the freezing process. The engineering of porosity and improvement on mechanical stability of the silica materials were achieved via a further soaking and sol–gel process. It was also possible to enhance the mechanical stability through the thermal treatment of the materials.

Graphical abstract: Hierarchically porous silica monoliths with tuneable morphology, porosity, and mechanical stability

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Aug 2010
Accepted
08 Feb 2011
First published
09 Mar 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 5753-5763

Hierarchically porous silica monoliths with tuneable morphology, porosity, and mechanical stability

A. Ahmed, R. Clowes, P. Myers and H. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 5753 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM02664F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements