Surfactant-micelle-templated materials typically exhibit well-accessible mesopores, which is seemingly dictated by the removal of the surfactant template from the mesopore space. However, in some cases, the template can be removed and subsequently the mesopores can be made inaccessible through the thermally-induced pore closure process, in which the entrance to the pores shrink so much that they no longer can be passed even by small molecules from. The closing of cylindrical mesopores is achievable due to the presence of constrictions in them and/or caps at their ends. The feasibility of this process was demonstrated on SBA-15 silica with 2-D hexagonal structure, which was prepared in a way resulting in small pore entrance sizes. The thermally induced pore closing was achieved at 900-950 �C. While the pore closing temperature for cylindrical mesopores is much higher than that for spherical mesopores (~400 �C), it can be lowered by using appropriate precursor materials.

Synthesis of SBA-15 silica with closed cylindrical mesopores

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.