A General Route to Flame Aerosol Synthesis and In Situ Functionalization of Mesoporous Silica

Mesoporous silica is a versatile material for energy, environmental, and medical applications. Here, the first time, we report flame aerosol synthesis method class of mesoporous with hollow structure specific surface area exceeding 1000 m 2 /g. We show its superior performance in water purification, drug carrier, thermal insulation. Moreover, propose general route to produce nanoshell supported nanocatalysts by situ decorating active nanoclusters, including noble metal (Pt/SiO ), transition (Ni/SiO oxide (CrO 3 /SiO alumina support (Co/Al O ). As prototypical application, perform dry reforming methane using Ni/SiO , achieving constant 97% CH 4 CO conversions more than 200 hours, dramatically outperforming MCM-41 Ni catalyst. This work provides scalable strategy nanoshells proposes an functionalization mechanism flexible catalysts design many reactions.