Mechanism of mesoporous silica formation. A time-resolved NMR and TEM study of silica-block copolymer aggregation
The dynamics of the synthesis of a mesoporous silica material SBA-15 is followed using time-resolved in situ H-1 NMR and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Block copolymer-silica particles of two-dimensional hexagonal symmetry evolve from an initially micellar solution. The synthesis was carried out with the block copolymer Pluronic P123 (EO20-PO70-EO20) at 35 degreesC and using tetramethyl o
