Preparation Of Silica Hollow Spheres With Mesopores In The Walls

The silica hollow spheres attracted increasing attention for their potential applications in loading and releasing of drugs and dyes, adsorption, optical materials and catalysis fields. Periodic microporous and mesoporous materials were commonly prepared through templating methods. Herein, silica hollow spheres with mesopores in the walls were prepared through a dual-templating approach using the mixtures of chiral cationic surfactants and organic solvents. The morphologies and pore architectures of the mesoporous silica materials were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and N2 sorption. The organic solvents played an important role in controlling the pore architectures and morphologies.In addition, helical organic-inorganic hybrid silica nanotubes and nanoribbons were prepared through a sol-gel transcription approach using the self-assemblies of the other chiral amphiphiles as templates using silsesquioxanes as precursors. The organic-inorganic hybrid silica nanomaterials have a great significance for the potential applications in enantioseparation and asymmetric catalysis.