Organized Functionalization of Mesoporous Silica Supports Using Prefabricated Metal-Polymer Modules

Abstract

Porous silica frameworks containing well-dispersed metal particles are particularly important in catalysis. These authors report a method for direct inclusion of metal nanoparticles into a host framework, thus circumventing the need for post-synthesis functionalization of the support. The method involves a new molecular hybrid templating technique that exploits the ability of the functionalized polymer microgel to function as both an exotemplate (controlling the growth of the metal colloids) and as an endotemplate (during the casting of the mesoporous sol-gel silicas), thus allowing the 3D arrangement of metal particles to be controlled.