Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica Microspheres by PICA and Pseudomorphic Transformation Using Silica Fume as Silica Source

Abstract

Monodisperse mesoporous silica microspheres (MSM-SF) were successfully prepared through PICA and pseudomorphic transformation using silica fume as original silica source. The structure and morphology of spheres were quantitatively investigated by Zata potential and particle size analyzer, N2 sorption isotherms, XRD, SEM and TEM. The results showed that the monodisperse spherical mesoporous silica microspheres (MSM-SF) exhibited uniform spherical morphology, worm-like mesoporous, large BET surface area of 559.9m2/g; its BJH average pore size diameter and total pore volume are 3.3nm and 0.12cm3/g, respectively. This preparation method provides a new synthetic strategy to control the particle morphology and structure simultaneously, meanwhile this method can also significantly reduce the cost of synthesis of mesoporous silica microspheres.