Mesoporous Silica Materials Synthesized via Sol-Gel Methods Modified with Ionic Liquid and Surfactant Molecules

Mesoporous silica materials were synthesized via a sol-gel method employing a room temperature ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [bmim][BF₄]) as a new solvent medium and further modified with surfactant (hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide, CTAB) as a pore templating material. The synthesized samples were characterized by the transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and N₂ adsorption-desorption techniques. The results indicated that the mesoporous silica synthesized by using [bmim][BF₄] and CTAB as mixed templates showed better mesostructural order and smaller pore size, compared with mesoporous silica materials synthesized by using single [bmim][BF₄] as template under the same conditions. This indicates that the presence of surfactant can affect the microstructures of silica prepared by the present synthesis method.