Pore-expansion of monodisperse mesoporous silica spheres by a novel surfactant exchange method

Abstract

By adapting a novel surfactant exchange method, in which surfactants inside mesopores are completely exchanged by surfactants with longer alkyl chain lengths, pore-expansion of monodisperse mesoporous silica spheres (MMSS) with radially ordered hexagonal regularity was attained while retaining spherical morphology and high monodispersity.