One-pot synthesis of two different highly porous silica materials

• Introduction of silicon dioxide into polymer by swelling in TEOS.
• Effect of surfactant adsorption on polymer and silica combining.
• Silicon dioxide spheres derived from polymer-silica composites.
• Simultaneous preparation of polymer-silica composite and MCM-41.

A new method, which combines the swelling of preformed porous polymer particles in silica precursor and sol–gel procedure at the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), is used to prepare spherical, highly porous silica particles and polymer-silica composites. As a by-product, MCM-41 silica is formed. The resulting products are the effect of two simultaneous and competing processes: the swelling of polymer in silica precursor tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and the adsorption of CTAB on polymer with simultaneous desorption of TEOS. The paper presents the formation mechanism of final silica particles as well as the structural properties of composites and silicas derived from them. All materials are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), nitrogen adsorption and X-ray diffraction (XRD). This study is supplemented by the Naproxen desorption measurements for the selected composites and silicas.

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