Synthesis and surface properties of silica spheres with core shell structure by one convenient method

Abstract

Earlier, we have published a paper on the preparation of silica sphere using propanol as cosurfactant. We report here a highly cost-effective method of preparation of mesoporous silica spheres with core shell structure using sodium silicate as silica precursor, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant, and methanol as cosurfactant. Thus after removal of the template by dissolutions or/and activation at higher temperature, mesoporous silica spheres with core shell structure were obtained. The products prepared with methanol to CTAB molar ratio 8.5: 1 were confirmed to give best results. All the spherical products have very large surface area ( ∼ 589-1044 m 2 /g), pore volume (∼ 0.98-1.41c m 3 /g), and ordered pore structure. © 2009 D. P. Das et al.