Synthesis of monodispersed mesoporous spheres of submicron size amorphous silica

Abstract

A technique has been developed for synthesis of submicron monodispersed mesoporous spheres of amorphous silica from an alcohol-water-ammonia mixture by means of tetraethoxysilane hydrolysis in the presence of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. The mechanism of sphere formation from aggregates of close-packed surfactant cylindrical micelles coated by silica has been proposed. The specific surface area in the synthesized spheres is higher than 800 m2/g, whereas the pore volume and average diameter are equal to 0.63 cm3/g and 3 nm, respectively. The average size of particles is shown to decrease twice after the temperature of the synthesis is increased twice. According to the data of atomic force spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, the average diameter of mesoporous spheres can be controllably varied in the range 300–1500 nm with a root-mean-square deviation of no more than 6%.