A new nonionic surfactant pathway to mesoporous molecular sieve silicas with long range framework order

Abstract

Mesoporous molecular sieve silicas with ordered structures are formed from tetraethylorthosilicate (I0) in a new reaction pathway based on nonionic R(EO)nH surfactants (N0) and denoted (N0Mn+)I0, wherein electrostatic forces are introduced into the assembly process through –(EO)nH complexation of small metal cations (Mn+ = Li+, Co2+, Ni2+, Mn2+ and Zn2+).