Hierarchical Silica Materials Research Articles

A meso-macro compartmentalized bioreactor obtained through silicalization of "green" double emulsions: W/O/W and W/SLNs/W.

We report a straightforward approach for both structuring and entrapping enzymes into hierarchical silica materials with hexagonally ordered mesopores (12 nm) and tailored macroporosity by converting a double emulsion colloidal template (tens of microns) into solid lipid nanoparticles (hundreds of nanometres). The supported biocatalyst efficiently catalyzes the methanolysis of colza oil.

Diatom‐Templated Synthesis of Ordered Meso/Macroporous Hierarchical Materials

AbstractOrdered meso/macroporous hierarchical silica materials have been prepared using block copolymer P123 (EO20PO70EO20) and an inverse carbon replica of diatom as templates. The silica wall of the diatom was replaced by ordered mesoporous silica, while the micron‐sized diatom architecture was replicated by using an inverse carbon replication technique. The mesoporous silica was found to have macroporous structures of both columnar and discoid diatom templates. The presence of hierarchical meso/macroporous systems was confirmed by the results from scanning and transmission electron microscopy, powder X‐ray diffraction, and nitrogen adsorption–desorption studies. The materials with columnar and discoid morphologies have BET surface areas of about 400 m2 g–1. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)