Prospects for the use of mixed micellar structures as a template in synthesis of MCM-41-type silicas

Abstract

Formation of mixed micelles assisted by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and methyl red was studied by means of conductometric and spectrophotometric methods. It follows from the analysis of conductometric dependences that the addition of azo dye leads to a decrease in critical micelle concentration of a long-chain quaternary ammonium salt. The respective thermodynamic parameters were calculated. The process of mixed micelles formation was stated to be spontaneous and the solubilization of azo dye by micelles of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is profitable in terms of energy and accompanied by an increase in degrees of freedom of the system. Based on the data of spectrophotometric study of methyl red solutions in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, the values of stability constant, partition coefficient and change in the standard free energy of methyl red distribution between aqueous and micellar medium were calculated. It was found that electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions arising between azo dye and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide molecules cause the orientation of methyl red from the shell towards the center of the micelles. It was shown that mixed micelles can be used as a template in sol-gel synthesis of mesoporous aminosilica of MSM-41 type. The results of low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption and X-ray analysis revealed that the introduction of methyl red as a part of mixed micelles into the reaction medium of sol-gel synthesis causes substantial increase in specific surface area and total pore volume, noticeable reduction of pore diameter, thereby contributing to the formation of silica material with a pronounced long-range ordered mesoporous structure.