Transition metal-chelating surfactant micelle templates for facile synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles

► Facile preparation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) was achieved by metal-chelating surfactant micelle complex using Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ ions. ► Different complexation of metal ions plays an important role in determining the formation of nano-sized ordered MSNs. ► Systematic characterization of the synthesized materials was achieved by solid-state 29Si and 13C-NMR techniques, BET, FT-IR, and XPS. ► Stability constants for the metal-P123 complex are calculated on the basis of molar conductance measurements in order to elucidate the formation mechanism.