Bis-(4-stearoylaminophenyl)methane assembles in organic solvents and used as templates for preparation of SiO2 nanowires

Gelator, bis-(4-stearoylaminophenyl)methane (BSAPM), can be used to gelatinize some organic solvents, such as benzene and n-butanol and so on. TEM images of n-butanol gel indicate that BSAPM can self-assembled at lower concentration (less than 3 wt.%) into fiber-like aggregates, which in turn form an extended three-dimensional network structure. The driving force for BSAPM assembling in organic solvent is mainly hydrogen bonding, π-π stack interaction and other non-covalent intermolecular interaction. Using the fiber-like aggregates assembled by BSAPM as templates, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) can be adsorbed onto the surfaces of fiber-like aggregates and then polymerized by sol-gel polymerization. SiO2 nanowires were formed after calcinations. SEM and AFM images indicate that silica consisted of nanowires structures with diameters of 200-500 nm and lengths of 2-18 μm.