Hierarchical mesoporous silica prepared from ethyl-cyanoethyl cellulose cholesteric liquid crystalline phase

Abstract

Porous silica with hierarchical structures was prepared from ethyl-cyanoethyl cellulose/poly(3-(methacryloyloxy)propyl-trimethoxysilane) (E-CE)C/P(MPTOS) composites with fixed cholesteric liquid crystalline (LC) phase. The scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and N2 sorption measurements results indicate that the silica prepared from cholesteric LC composites is of hierarchical macro-, meso- and micro-porous structures, and the average pore size of the silica can be tailored by the content of the cholesteric LC phase in the (E-CE)C/P(MPTOS) composites. The resultant silicas have high specific surface area with the highest value of 837 m2/g at the pore volume of 0.83 cm3/g. This approach provides a new choice for the preparation of porous silica materials, especially from the templates that are not compatible with aqueous system.