Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica with Large Pores and Bimodal Pore Size Distribution by Templating of Polymer Latices

Abstract

A novel variation of the template route to mesoporous silica is presented, which extends the range of pore sizes that can be achieved to larger sizes. Polymer latex particles in the range from 20 to 400 nm with different surface functionalities are employed as templates. The synthesis of the latices, sol-gel processing, and calcination are described, together with the characterization of the inorganic gels. It is shown that the route of templating polymer dispersions is complementary to the synthesis in lyotropic liquid-crystalline phases, leading to a bimodal size distribution of the pores.