Morphologies of large-pore periodic mesoporous organosilicas

In this article, we report a systematic investigation on the morphologies of SBA-15 type large-pore periodic mesoporous organosilicas templated by the block copolymer P123. By tuning synthetic parameters such as stirring, acidity, reaction ratio, reaction duration, and autoclaving, a wide spectrum of unique primary particle morphologies, such as the spindle-, pearl-, diamond-, rod-, and platelike particles, and nanoparticles has been prepared. These primary particles were found to self-assemble in solution to form various large hierarchical macrostructures, such as mesostructured necklaces and cobweb-supported necklaces. The assembling process was elucidated with the information observed at different stages of reaction. Stirring, reaction duration, and autoclaving were identified to be the key factors affecting the efficiency and degree of the self-assembly process. A nucleation-accretion mechanism for the formation of various PMO primary particles was proposed by examining the relation between the external morphologies and the underlying mesostructure.