Synthesis Methods of Mesoporous Silica Materials

From the discovery of mesoporous materials in 1992 at Mobil oil company, these materials are continuously gaining attraction due to their superior properties like tunable pore structure, surface morphology, huge pore volume and ability of easy functionalization. In this paper historical background of mesoporous silica materials and methods which are used to synthesize these materials such as sol-gel method, microwave assisted technique, chemical etching technique, templating approach are discussed. In templating approach a template (structure directing agent) is used to create hollow porous structure but chemical etching technique uses a selective etching agent (basic/acidic) to create mesoporous structure, here no template (soft/hard) is required. Microwave technique is used for rapid synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. In microwave technique self assembly of organosilane precursors and blockcopolymer and successive hydrothermal treatment is carried out under the microwave oven.