Synthesis of ordered small pore mesoporous silicates with tailorable pore structures and sizes by polyoxyethylene alkyl amine surfactant

Ordered mesoporous silicates with tailorable pore structures and small pore sizes have been synthesized by using polyoxyethylene alkyl amine surfactant PN-430 [CH₃(CH₂)₁₇N(EO) _x(EO)_y, x + y = 5] as a structure-directing agent under acidic condition. Two-dimensional (2-D) hexagonal (p6mm) mesoporous silicates have been prepared via an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process. The N₂ sorption isotherms show that the product has a small uniform pore size distribution of 1.8 nm by BJH model, a BET surface area of 730 m ²/g and a pore volume of 0.36 cm³/g. 3-D cubic (Pm-3n) mesoporous silicate with small uniform pore size (∼1.76 nm) can also be prepared at high concentration of PN-430 by EISA method in tetrahydrofuran solvent. The solvothermal post-treatment by n-hexane at 70 °C for 3 d to the above material results in the phase transition of the mesostructure from Pm-3n to P6₃/mmc based on XRD and TEM analyses. In comparison, by using nonionic oligometric alkyl-ethylene oxide surfactant such as Brij 78 (C₁₈H₃₇EO₂₀) or Triton X-100 (CH ₃C(CH₃)₂CH₂C(CH₃) ₂C₆H₄ EO₁₀) as co-templates, high-quality hexagonal (p6mm) small pore mesoporous silicates have also been prepared in ethanol media. Our results show that the blend templates composed of PN-430 and a small amount of nonionic surfactant can increase the efficiency of organic and inorganic hybrid species assembly, improve the quality of the structural regularity, and decrease the pore size to about 1.65 nm.