9 Mesostructured silica phases with lamellar structure were prepared by the liquid crystal templating (LCT) technique, from double chain alkylammonium surfactant and sodium silicate or tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) silica precursors. The structural characterization of these phases is presented and compared. Surface modification of the silica layers, together with elimination of the organic tem...

The synthesis of nanostructured anionic-surfactant-templated mesoporous silica (AMS) recently appeared as a new strategy for the formation of nanostructured silica based materials. This method is based on the use of anionic surfactants together with a co-structure-directing agent (CSDA), mostly a silylated ammonium precursor. The presence of this CSDA is necessary in order to create ionic inter...

We explored fd as a template to direct the formation of silica nanomaterials with different morphologies through simple sol-gel chemistry[1]. Depending on the conditions silica nanowires can be formed, which seem to accurately transcript the bending conformation and the length of the fd viruses in solution. But also surprisingly straight silica rods may be formed, and under other conditions bow...

Several samples of mesoporous silica were prepared via sol-gel chemistry in the presence of CTAB as template with variation of stirring intensity and aging time, ratios of CTAB/SiO2 and NH4OH/H2O in synthesis mixture. Effects of aging temperature, hydrothermal treatment and ter-Butanol addition to the synthesis mixture on the textural properties of obtained samples were also studied. Results of...

2D nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC) is synthesized by using a mesoporous silica film as hard template, which is then investigated as a non-precious metal catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The effect of the synthesis conditions on the silica template and carbon is extensively investigated. In this work, we employ dual templates-viz. graphene oxide and triblock copolymer F12...

There has always been a fascination with "impossible" compounds, ones that do not break any rules of chemical bonding or valence but whose structures are unstable and do not exist. This instability can usually be rationalized in terms of chemical or physical restrictions associated with valence electron shells, multiple bonding, oxidation states, catenation, and the inert pair effect. In the pu...

An L- or D-glutamic acid based bolaamphiphile was found to form uniform helical nanotubes in water, which were used as the template to generate silica nanotubes. The formed silica nanotubes have supramolecular chirality in the inner walls, and were further used to load photoactive azobenzene moieties to realize a chiroptical switch.

PIC (Phase Inversion Composition) O-W nanoemulsions was used as a template for the synthesis of Hierarchical Porous Silica (HPS), and the oil phase of the nanoemulsion was used as a nanoreactor for the preparation of magnetic gamma-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles, confined within the silica matrix.

A novel synthesis approach for silica-based nanotubes (NTs) was discovered in the purely inorganic system containing the molecular compounds OP(NH2)3, SP(NH2)3 and SiCl4 in evacuated and sealed silica glass ampoules. Without any solvent or structure directing template the amorphous NTs self-organise to form orthogonally ordered, 3D hyperbranched mesocrystals, exhibiting an interesting material ...

An unusual ceria dispersion was achieved by using the confined space between template and silica walls in as-prepared mesoporous silica, for the first time. The new adsorbents exhibit high adsorptive desulfurization activity and, more importantly, excellent stability and reusability, which is impossible to realize with conventional adsorbents.