Assembly of nonionic–anionic co-surfactants to template mesoporous silica vesicles with hierarchical structures

Mesoporous silica vesicles (MSV) with a hierarchical structure were developed using triblock copolymer Pluronic P103 and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a co-surfactant in the present of an inorganic salt, sodium fluoride (NaF). To some extent, variation in the particle size and vesicle cavity diameter can be achieved by adjusting the anionic–nonionic surfactant molar ratio. An onion-like vesicle morphology was obtained by changing the inorganic salt concentration. Based on the fitting of small angle neutron scattering data, a formation mechanism has been proposed. This work opens up a new way to synthesize mesoporous silica vesicles with controllable hierarchical structure using nonionic surfactant P103 and anionic surfactant SDS.