A facile and finely-controlled synthesis of versatile porous silica nanomaterials: Nanopods, helical nanorods and nanovesicles

We report a finely-controlled synthesis of various nanoporous silicas such as ordered mesoporous nanopods, helical nanorods, hollow particles with porous wall, and nanovesicles in an identical approach by simply adjusting the weight ratio of tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C14TAB) and sodium perfluorooctanoate (PFONa) co-templates. Such morphological and structural transformation is proposed to be induced by the reduction of surface free energy and hydrophilic/ hydrophobic ratio. More importantly, we explore the interaction between perfluorinated molecules and ionic surfactant with shorter alkyl chain and reveal the effect of the chain stiffness of surfactants on the self-assemble behavior.