The Co-Structure Directing Agent (CSDA) Approach to Mesoporous Silica Formation – Exploring the Assembly Characteristics
This thesis is focused on the detail process of formation of mesoporous silica materials.Mesoporous silica materials are one type of porous materials with a pore size between 2 and 5 nm (1 nm=0.000 000 001 m). The pore walls consist of silicon dioxide – silica (sand also consists of silica). The mesoporous silica materials are formed by amphiphilic molecules, a kind of molecule with one part that We investigate the formation mechanism responsible for two specific systems of mesoporous silicas formed with the so-called co-structure directing agent (CSDA) route. The synthesis relies on the interactions between silica source (tetraethylorthosilicate, TEOS), surfactants and CSDA. The structures of the mesoporous silica materials were investigated mainly by small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD),
