A novel pathway for the synthesis of ordered mesoporous silica from diatomite

•Ordered MCM-41 is synthesized using diatomite as silica source.•Diatomite can reduce the cost of preparation.•The method can expand commercial utilization of diatomite.•Ionic liquid [C16mim]Br is a suitable template for the synthesis of MCM-41.

Mesoporous silica materials were synthesized using diatomite as silica source and ionic liquid 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([C16mim]Br) as the template. The effects of various experimental parameters, such as molar ratio of [C16mim]Br/SiO2, pH value, reaction temperature and time, were systematically investigated. The obtained samples were further characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, nitrogen absorption–desorption analyses and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that as-synthesized mesoporous materials possessed the ordered hexagonal mesostructure and high surface area, as well as demonstrated that ionic liquid [C16mim]Br was a suitable template. More favorably, as an alternative and inexpensive source of silica, diatomite could significantly reduce the cost of preparation.