Bicontinuous, Thermoresponsive, L3‐Phase Silica Nanocomposites and Their Smart Drug‐Delivery Applications

Abstract

The discovery that ordered nanoporous materials can be produced using a surfactant-templated approach has opened up a new era in the synthesis of ordered nanoscale materials. Many investigations have explored the preparation of nanoporous materials with novel chemical composition, the fundamental nature of the reaction processes and potential applications, such as catalysis and separation technology, which is expected to open up further application possibilities. Interest in the structure of the pore network is necessarily concomitant with the formation of different structures, including hexagonal, cubic, and lamellar structures. The liquid-crystal templating approach to these structures is based on a micellar or tubular structure. After templating, the inorganic precursor condenses to form a rigid cast of the underlying liquid crystal, and the organic phase can be removed to leave an inorganic solid composed of a periodic nanoporous structure with uniform diameter and distribution. Although the feasibility of choosing the pore size offers a wide range of possibilities for hosting different molecules, reports on the drug-delivery behavior of ordered nanoporous materials are not abundant and usually involve structural modification.