Calcination-free nanoarchitectonics of mesoporous conducting polymer@silica hybrids with ultra-large pores and their enhanced protein adsorption capacity

Abstract

The nanohybrids of mesoporous conducting polymer@silica with ultra-large pore size are successfully in-situ synthesised from 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene (ProDOT) derived cationic surfactant and silica precursor assisted by co-solvent n-butanol at high temperature without any template removal process. The ultra-large mesopores pores are created in the nanohybrids without calcination step through an integrated approach of simple polymerisation and rearrangement of the conducting and hydrophobic monomeric unit, ProDOT unit followed by the pore swelling with the co-solvent and high-temperature hydrothermal treatment. By controlling the hydrothermal temperature and the amount of co-solvent, the pore size can be expanded from 11.6 nm to 27 nm. The prepared nanohybrid with ultra large pores exhibits a high adsorption capacity for large-sized protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA), and the adsorption capacity can be controlled with the adjustment of the pore size. The adsorption capacity of a nanohybrid with 27 nm is 166 mg/g, which is almost twice that of a nanohybrid with 11.6 nm (75 mg/g). The mesoporous conducting polymer@silica nanohybrids can be applied as a carrier for protein delivery or the support for enzymatic catalysis or biosensors.