Sub-micrometer/nanoscale patterned polymer brushes are prepared by employing cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) as a supramolecular recognition motif to assemble functional silica colloids onto Au surfaces as a sacrificial nanopatterning template. By employing CB[8]-mediated host-guest interactions at the interface, it is possible to readily generate nanopatterned materials in aqueous media under ambient ...

Nitrogen and oxygen co-doped mesoporous carbons that can serve as metal-free electrocatalysts are synthesized via a novel synthetic route using milled rice as a precursor and colloidal silica as a template. The materials efficiently electrocatalyze the hydrazine oxidation reaction with only a small onset potential, while giving a high peak current density and showing good long-term stability.

We demonstrate a sol-gel approach, using a water-in-oil microemulsion as the template, for the synthesis of hollow and yolk/shell silica nanospheres, which can encapsulate pre-formed hydrophobic nanoparticles, and we then explore these multifunctional hollow nanospheres in cell-labeling applications.

We report a new and simple one-pot synthetic method to produce mesoporous silica and nanoporous solid acid catalyst capable of catalyzing pinacole-pinacolone rearrangement and esterification reactions, by preparing a solvent washable phosphonated triblock copolymer template and self-assembling it in the presence of alkoxysilane.

Biomass offers a renewable carbon source that could be utilized as a raw material in the chemicals industry. A potential route for the conversion of biomass feedstock’s into industrial chemicals is through the catalytic conversion of biomass sugars (glucose) to furan based compounds through an aqueous reforming process. However, to accommodate the transport of these bulky sugars within the cata...

Hollow silica spheres (HSS) with special interior spaces, high specific surface area and excellent adsorption and permeability performance were synthesized via micelle-template method using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles as soft template and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as silica precursor. SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XRD, DLS and BET-BJH were carried out to characterize the morphology and s...

In this article, mercapto-functionalized helical mesoporous silica nanorods have been synthesized by a one-step co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS) using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template. Process parameters, including MPTS concentration, stirring time and added volume of ethanol as co-solvent, were both carefully and accurat...

A facile spray drying technique has been developed for large-scale and template-free production of nanoporous silica with controlled morphology, large pore size, and high pore volume, using commercially available fumed silica, Aerosil 200, as a sole precursor. This approach can be applied to the preparation of functional nanoporous materials, in this study, lanthanum oxide functionalised silica...

The creation of label-free biosensors capable of accurately detecting trace contaminants, particularly small organic molecules, is of significant interest for applications in environmental monitoring. This is achieved by pairing a high-sensitivity signal transducer with a biorecognition element that imparts selectivity towards the compound of interest. However, many environmental pollutants do ...

We compare the methods of continuous solvent (Soxhlet) and supercritical solvent extractions for the removal of the organic template from nanostructured silica monoliths. Our monoliths are formed by templating the L3 liquid crystal phase of cetylpyridinium chloride in aqueous solutions with tetramethoxy silane. The monoliths that result from both Soxhlet and supercritical extraction methods are...