Morphosynthesis route to large-pore SBA-15 microspheres

A flexible, controllable and high-yield (ca. 100%) morphosynthesis route is provided to fabricate perfect monodispersed SBA-15 microspheres. A large series of characterization results (SEM, TEM, XRD, and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis) have demonstrated how mesitylene and inorganic salt can drastically influence not only the textural properties of the materials on the nanometer scale but also the morphology of the silica at the micrometer level. Both mesitylene and inorganic salt are necessary for the formation of the silica spheres, in addition to their influence on inner structure of the resulting materials. The absence of stirring is also necessary to achieve perfect SBA-15 microspheres. The use of mesitylene and inorganic salt in the triblock copolymer/silica source/acid solution system introduces more flexibility and diversity into the designed synthesis of shaped mesoporous materials, resulting in well-defined SBA-15 spheres (a few micrometers in diameter) with pore size about 20 nm and pore volume about 2.0 cm3/g.