Nanocomposite processing via infiltration of mesoporous silica

Abstract

Synthesis of materials with nanoscale (1~100 nm) organization is important in various applications. Recently, scientists at Mobil described a new family of mesoporous molecular sieves. These materials have regular arrays of uniform pore channels ranging from 1.6~10 nm in diameter in contrast to other mesoporous solids such as amorphous silicas and modified layered clays and silicates. A surfactantsilicate co-assembly model has been proposed to explain the formation of these materials. According to this pathway, the matching of the charge density at the organic-inorganic interface controls the assembly of the mesophases and four distinct silica mesophases have been observed, lamellae, hexagonally packed tubes, and two bicontinuous structures of cubic symmetry. Different phases are constructed by varying the synthesis parameters such as the surfactant/silicate ratio and the acidity. Here, we report the synthesis of a new amorphous mesoporous phase with short range order and with no long range crystallinity. Due to its interpenetrating network structure, this amorphous mesoporous silica can be used as a matrix for nanocomposite processing. Here, we use it as a host to process ruby glass.