Highly dispersed zinc phosphate microdomains in mesoporous silica

In situ immobilization of crystalline zinc phosphate nuclei in the mesoporous silica material resulted in a highly ordered 2D-hexagonal mesoporous material with evenly dispersed crystalline NaZnPO4 microdomains in its matrix using the self-assembly of cationic surfactant under hydrothermal synthesis condition. Four samples with different Si:Zn:P:Na mole ratios have been prepared. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the as-synthesized as well as template-free samples indicated the presence of mesophase in each case. N2 adsorption data indicated mesoporosity in the samples together with the existence of crystalline NaZnPO4 phase for the materials synthesized with Si/Zn mole ratio 5-12. 29Si MAS NMR results showed high value of the Q4/Q3 ratio in these materials suggesting highly crosslinked structure.