Formation of hexagonal mesoporous silica in submicrometer channels

The cooperative self assembled structure features of pored materials in forming mesoporous silica in submicrometer channels were analyzed. Amorphous silica nanoparticles were used as seeds to bring about changes to the surface by affecting the orientation of the hexagonal packing of the support. A triblock copolymer surfactant of the Pluronic type as a template to form the mesostructured silica by simple solvent evaporation inside an anodic alumina membrane. The problem of the porealignment were overcome by using isotropic bicontinous mesophases as templates, which form materials with 3D mesoporosity consisting of interconnected pores. The formation and mechanisms of the pore ordering within the confined space of the pores have to be systematically studied to obtain a deeper insight into the possibilities of this technique.