Hierarchically macro/mesoporous silica monoliths constructed with interconnecting micrometer-sized unit rods

Under typical dilute reactant compositions (3 ~ 5 wt% of surfactant template concentration) and conventional hydrothermal conditions for mesoporous materials synthesis, successful preparation of hierarchically macro/mesoporous silica monoliths was reported in this paper. The resultant materials were characterized by a series of techniques including powder X-ray diffraction, N₂ adsorption–desorption, SEM, TEM/EDS, and Hg porosimetry. A new kind of stable and hierarchically porous pure silica monoliths was confirmed, which are featured with highly ordered mesoporous structures, rod-shaped unit particles, large specific surface area of 492 m²/g, continuous macropores of about 4.0 μm in size and high macropore volume of about 13.1 cm³/g. Moreover, using the resultant silica monoliths as hard templates, carbon monoliths have been successfully replicated, which inherit the structural characters of parent silica materials. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

General and simple approach for control cage and cylindrical mesopores, and thermal/hydrothermal stable frameworks

Highly ordered cage and cylindrical mesoporeous silica monoliths (HOM) with 2- and 3-dimensional (2D and 3D, respectively) structures, mesopore/micropore volumes, and thick-walled frameworks were successfully fabricated by instant direct templating of lyotropic phases of copolymer (EO(m)-PO(n)-EO(m)) surfactants. Large cage-like pores with uniform constriction sizes up to 10 nm and open cylindrical channel-like mesopores can be easily achieved by this simple and efficient synthesis design. Our results show that the cage-like pores could be fabricated at relatively lower copolymer concentrations used in the lyotropic phase domains at copolymer/TMOS ratios of 35 wt %. These ordered cage pore architectures underwent transition to open-cylindrical pores by increasing the copolymer concentration. High EO/PO block copolymers, in general, were crucially affected on the increase of the interior cavity sizes and on the stability of the cage mesopore characters. However, for F108 (EO(141)PO(44)EO(141)) systems, the fabrication of ordered and stable cage pore monoliths was achieved with significantly higher copolymer concentrations up to 90 wt %. Interestingly, the effective copolymer molecular nature was also observed in the ability to design various ordered mesophase geometries in large domain sizes. Our findings here show evidence that the synthetic strategy provides realistic control over a wide range of mesostructured phase geometries and their extended long-range ordering in the final replicas of the silica monolith frameworks. In addition, the HOM silica monoliths exhibited considerable structural stability against higher thermal temperature (up to 1000 degrees C) and longer hydrothermal treatment times under boiling water and steam. The remarkable structural findings of 3D frameworks, transparent monoliths, and micropores combined with large cage- and cylindrical-like mesopores are expected to find promising uses in materials chemistry.     

Co2+@Mesoporous Silica Monoliths: Tailor‐Made Nanoreactors for Confined Soft Chemistry

Mesoporous silica monoliths with various ordered nanostructures containing transition metal M²⁺ cations in variable amounts were elaborated and studied. A phase diagram depicting the different phases as a function of the M²⁺ salt/tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) and surfactant P123/TMOS ratios was established. Thermal treatment resulted in mesoporous monoliths containing isolated, accessible M²⁺ species or condensed metal oxides, hydroxides, and salts, depending on the strength of the interactions between the metal species and the ethylene oxide units of P123. The ordered mesoporosity of the monoliths containing accessible M²⁺ ions was used as a nanoreactor for the elaboration of various transition metal compounds (Prussian blue analogues, Hofmann compounds, metal–organic frameworks), and this opens the way to the elaboration of a large range of nanoparticles of multifunctional materials.     

双模板法制备介孔／大孔复合孔结构硅胶独石

采用双模板法,向正硅酸甲酯的水解体系中同时引入聚乙二醇和三嵌段共聚物,成功制备出具有双连续大孔、同时孔壁中分布着有序介孔的复合孔结构硅胶独石材料. 产物的比表面积高达880 m2/g, 大孔孔径为0.2～5 μm, 介孔高度集中地分布在 5 nm. 结合物理吸附、扫描电镜、粉末X射线衍射和透射电镜等表征手段,发现合成条件如原料组成、反应温度和pH值等对反应体系中凝胶化转变和相分离发生的相对速度有重要影响,进而影响产物复合孔结构的生成. 此外,通过对合成条件的优化,一方面增强了无机骨架的强度,另一方面降低了湿凝胶干燥过程中的毛细管压力降,有效缓和了凝胶结构在干燥过程中的开裂和变形,使复合孔结构硅胶独石在厘米尺度内具有良好的整体性能.     

功能化有序介孔碳对重金属离子Cu(II)、Cr(VI)的选择性吸附行为

以三嵌段共聚物F127为模板剂, 酚醛树脂为碳源, 正硅酸乙酯为硅源, 三组分共组装合成介孔碳?氧化 硅纳米复合物, 再经HF去除氧化硅, 得到有序介孔碳(OMC). X射线衍射(XRD)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、低温 N2吸脱附(BET)等测试表明, 所得样品具有高度有序的介孔结构, 比表面积和孔容分别为1330 m²·g^-1和2.13 cm³·g^-1, 平均孔径6.4 nm. 对其先氧化、后氯化、再胺化, 得到不同胺基接枝量的胺化介孔碳(C-NH₂(m), m为加入的乙二胺的质量(g)). 傅里叶变换红外(FT-IR)光谱表征结果证实, 胺基官能团成功接枝到有序介孔碳表面.TEM测试表明介孔碳的有序孔道结构得到了较好的保持. 以有序介孔碳、胺化介孔碳作吸附剂对Cu(II)、Cr(VI)进行选择性吸附研究. 结果表明: 功能化修饰前, 样品对Cu(II)、Cr(VI)饱和吸附量分别为213.33、241.55 mg·g^-1; 修饰后饱和吸附量可分别达到495.05、68.21 mg·g^-1. 功能化介孔碳表现了较强的选择性吸附Cu(II)的能力.     

A strategy to incorporate monodispersed PbS nanoparticles into ordered mesoporous silica monolith

A new synthetic procedure has been developed for the preparation of ordered mesoporous silica monoliths doped with uniform PbS nanoparticles (NPs). Ordered mesoporous silica monoliths functionalized with thiol groups have been synthesized through co-condensation method in a lyotropic liquid crystalline system. Thiol groups on the interior wall facilitate the incorporation of Pb²⁺ cations and the formation of PbS NPs inside the ordered mesopores. Combined analysis results indicate that the PbS NPs with a uniform particle size of about 2.5 nm are mostly confined inside the ordered pores of hosts. A great blue shift in the absorbance spectrum has been observed, which shows an obvious quantum confinement effect.     

三维有序大孔-介孔二氧化硅的可控制备及表征

以聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)胶晶为大孔模板、嵌段共聚物P123为介孔模板,利用双模板剂法进行了三维有序大孔-介孔二氧化硅材料的制备研究。采用SEM、TEM、低角XRD以及N₂吸脱附技术对样品进行了表征。结果表明,通过简单的调控PMMA胶晶模板的组装过程,就可以调变合成材料中的大孔结构,从而轻松地实现可控的制备出具有网状或者层状结构的三维有序大孔-介孔二氧化硅材料,并提出了其可能的形成机理。此外,所制备的三维有序大孔-介孔二氧化硅样品均具有较大的BET比表面积(>550m₂·g^-1),大孔孔径200nm左右,介孔孔径分布集中于3.5nm左右。     

Well‐controlled 3D skeletal epoxy‐based monoliths obtained by polymerization induced phase separation

We recently presented a short communication on the preparation of epoxy‐based monoliths possessing highly ordered structures by polymerization induced phase separation based on the spinodal decomposition. In this article, we describe in detail on reaction mechanisms and structural properties of the epoxy‐based monoliths with well‐controlled macropores in the micrometer range. We prepared epoxy‐based monoliths based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, bis(4‐aminocyclohexyl)methane, and polyethylene glycol with a bicontinuous structure by in situ step‐growth polymerization. Different morphology of epoxy‐based monoliths could be obtained by changing formulation of monomers and porogenic solvents. Characterizations of their morphologies were performed using scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, small angle X‐ray scattering, and gas adsorption measurement (BET method). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 3272–3281, 2008     

SiO2阶层多孔结构搭建及块体材料制备机理

借助溶胶-凝胶结合相分离和模板法进行了阶层多孔结构的搭建及二氧化硅多孔块体材料的制备,表征了阶层多孔块体的显微结构及孔结构特性,分析了阶层多孔结构的搭建机理。研究结果表明,三嵌段共聚物聚环氧乙烷-聚环氧丙烷-聚环氧乙烷（P123）的加入不仅诱导共混体系发生相分离,调控大孔结构的形成,同时形成球形胶束并作为模板剂进入骨架,而1,3,5-三甲基苯（TMB）的加入使P123形成的胶束膨胀且更加稳定,在骨架上成功引入了球形介孔,骨架中凝胶粒子相互聚集形成微孔,从而搭建贯通大孔-球形介孔-微孔同时分布的阶层多孔结构,并获得相应的多孔块体材料;当正硅酸甲酯（TMOS）：P123：TMB摩尔比为1：0.015：0.353时,多孔块体材料的阶层多孔结构最优,大孔孔径为0.5-1.5 μm,介孔孔径为3-4 nm,显气孔率66.1%,比表面积为616 m²·g^-1。     

Optical microscopy and deuterium N.M.R. of non-ionic amphiphiles which exhibit thermotropic and aqueous lyotropic mesophases

Tetrabenzocyclododecatetraene (I) substituted with eight methoxy-mono-, di-, and triethyleneoxide side chains exhibit the same highly ordered thermotropic mesophase, M. In the methoxydiethyleneoxide (I-2), and methoxytriethyleneoxide (I-3) derivatives this mesophase is also lyotropic and can sustain (at room temperature) up to 40 wt per cent water. The homologue (I-2) exhibits at higher water content another lyomesophase, M_F, which is more fluid and nematic-like. Optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and deuterium N.M.R. of both labelled (I-2) and water as well as of the water ¹⁷O were used to construct the (I-2)-water phase diagram and to characterize the various mesophases. It is found that both M and M_F are uniaxial with negative birefringence and negative anisotropic magnetic susceptibility. The M_F phase readily aligns in a magnetic field and is characterized by fast (∼ 10⁷ s^-1) reorientation of the mesogen molecules about the director. The M phase is apparently columnar, highly ordered and is not readily aligned by a magnetic field. The rate of molecular reorientation in this mesophase is much slower (∼ 10³ s^-1) compared with M_F.     

【撤稿】Au纳米颗粒二维超晶格结构的稳定性

We synthesized 5.5 nm Au nanocrystals coated by dodecanethiol (C₁₂SH₂₆) by reverse micelle method. The Au nanocrystals are multiply twinned particles (MTP), which are mainly characterized by decahedral and icosahedral structures. The 2D hexagonal network self-organizationa of Au nanocrystals are realized on both amorphous carbon (AC) and highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) surfaces. The stability of 2D superlattices of Au nanocrystals in vacuum has been systematically surveyed, and it is found that large single triangular nanocrystals have been formed after 75 days due to the coalescence among the neighboring nanoparticles and the rearrangement of the atomics. When the Au nanocrystals in 2D organizations are annealed in air (573 K, 15 min), higher ordered 2D self-assemblies are stable, whereas worm-like coalesced nanoparticles form in those less ordered organizations. This demonstrates that the thermal stability of 2D self-assemblies is determined by the level of nanocrystals ordering.     

One-step hydrothermal synthesis of ordered mesostructured carbonaceous monoliths with hierarchical porosities

Hierarchical carbonaceous monoliths with ordered 2-D hexagonal mesostructures have been successfully synthesized by using phenolic resols as precursors and mixed triblock copolymers as templates via a one-step hydrothermal approach.     

Novel n-channel organic semiconductor based on pyrene-phenazine fused monoimide and bisimides

Large-conjugated pyrene-phenazine monoimide and bisimides were synthesized. Their self-assembly behavior, electric properties, and colorimetric acid sensing performance were investigated.     

Sponge-nested polymer monoliths: Versatile materials for the solid-phase extraction of bisphenols

Polymer monoliths are promising materials for sample preparation due to their high porosity, pH stability, and simple preparation. The use of melamine formaldehyde foams has been reported as an effective support to prepare highly robust silica and polymer monoliths. Herein, divinylbenzene monoliths based on a 50:50 (%, w/w) crosslinker/porogen ratio have been nested within a melamine-formaldehyde sponge, resulting in monoliths with a surface area higher than 400 m²/g. The extraction performance of these monoliths was evaluated for the extraction of endocrine-disrupting bisphenols from aqueous solutions. We evaluated for the first time the versatility of sponge-nested polymer monoliths by comparing three different extraction modes (vortex mixing, magnetic stirring, and orbital shaking). Vortex mixing showed a comparable recovery of bisphenols (39%–81%) in a shorter extraction time (30 min, instead of 2 h). In addition, the robustness of the sponge-nested polymer monoliths was demonstrated for the first time by reshaping a larger monolithic cube (0.125 cm³) into four smaller pieces (4 × 0.03125 cm³) leading to a 16%–21% increase in extraction efficiency. This effect was attributed to an increase in the effective contact area with the sample, obtaining a higher analyte extraction capacity.     

竹炭模板合成高度有序二氧化硅微米线组

通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)系统地研究了竹炭的微观结构,并以竹炭孔道为模板,以正硅酸乙酯为硅源,采用溶胶-凝胶法合成出高度有序的二氧化硅微米线组,其形貌和组成分别通过SEM,EDX和XRD进行表征.结果表明,所得微米线为较纯的方石英晶型,直径约1～2μm,长达200μm以上,呈束状高度有序排列,其形貌高度复制了竹炭微孔孔道的结构,说明微孔在限域反应中起模板作用.     

Liquid crystalline photoconductors

The influence of molecular order as well as of orientation of charge carrier units on photoconductivity has been investigated for the liquid crystal photoconductors H5T (1), thiadiazole (2) and oxadiazole (3). The discotic H5T (1) and both smectic systems 2 and 3 exhibit a higher photocurrent in the highly ordered mesophase than in the polycrystalline or isotropic state. For 1, results concerning charge carrier transport mechanism and Dember effect are given indicating an electronic charge transport comparable with the one known for single crystalline anthracene.     

Self-assembled colloidal crystals from ZrO2 nanoparticles

Ordered three-dimensional (3-D) assemblies of nanocrystalline zirconia were synthesized from aqueous suspensions of ZrO(2) nanoparticles without the need for hydrocarbon surfactants or solvents to control colloidal crystal growth. Nanoparticles were suspended in mild acid and subsequently titrated from low to neutral pH. The solubility was reduced as the surfaces were neutralized, promoting assembly of the nanoparticles into ordered monoliths. TEM measurements indicated the formation of three-dimensional, hexagonal faceted, micrometer-sized colloidal crystals composed of 4 nm diameter ZrO(2) nanoparticles. Lacking organic surfactants, the colloidal crystals were exceptionally robust and were sintered at high temperatures (300-500 degrees C) for further stability. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements demonstrate that the samples become progressively more amorphous above 350 degrees C, although some ordered domains of nanoparticles persist. Additionally, the heat treatment dramatically increases the surface area of the colloidal crystals as water and residual organics are desorbed, revealing highly controlled interstitial spaces and pores.     

合成具有高氧还原反应催化活性的结构有序铂铁合金催化剂

为提高燃料电池用贵金属铂催化氧还原反应性能,采用改进的多元醇法制备不同金属比例的碳载铂铁合金催化剂（D-Pt₃Fe/C和D-PtFe/C）前驱体. 随后通过优化在惰性气体环境中的高温煅烧条件,将结构无序的合金结构转变为结构有序的合金催化剂（O-Pt₃Fe/C和O-PtFe/C）. 利用X射线粉末衍射（XRD）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）、电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱（ICP-AES）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）对所制得催化剂进行结构表征. 结果发现,所制得催化剂的合金纳米颗粒尺寸分布均一（4 ~ 6 nm）,且均匀负载于碳载体上. 利用循环伏安法（CV）、线性扫描伏安法（LSV）对所制得催化剂进行电化学性能评估. 结果表明,O-PtFe/C的催化活性高于O-Pt₃Fe/C,其质量活性（271.54 mA•g^-1_Pt）和比活性（0.73 mA•cm^-2_Pt）分别是商业JM Pt/C催化剂的4.3倍和7.3倍. 两种结构有序铂铁催化剂催化氧还原反应活性均高于商业JM Pt/C催化剂.     

The self-assemblies of a newly designed star-shaped molecule end-capped with bromine atoms studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

A new star-shaped molecule StOF-Br_3 containing oligofluorenes and halogen atoms(Bromine) has been synthesized and studied by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy(STM) at the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite(HOPG) surface.We have obtained the high-resolution self-assembled STM images,from which the highly ordered and closely packed non-porous arrangements of the StOF-Br_3 molecular selfassemblies at the heptanoic acid/HOPG surface could be observed.The molecular models and selfassembled StOF-Br_3 architectures have been given in the following text.Besides,we have also figured out the surface free energy by the density functional theory(DFT) calculation,which proved that the halogen...halogen interaction was strong enough to stabilize the ordered molecular self-assemblies.This work verifies the existence of bromine...bromine interactions,and meanwhile provides a kind of effective approach for quickly building ordered molecular nanoarchitectures with large areas and different geometries.     

Incorporation of ionic liquid into porous polymer monoliths to enhance the separation of small molecules in reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography

An ionic liquid was incorporated into the porous polymer monoliths to afford stationary phases with enhanced chromatographic performance for small molecules in reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography. The effect of the ionic liquid in the polymerization mixture on the performance of the monoliths was studied in detail. While monoliths without ionic liquid exhibited poor resolution and low efficiency, the addition of ionic liquid to the polymerization mixture provides highly increased resolution and high efficiency. The chromatographic performances of the monoliths were demonstrated by the separations of various small molecules including aromatic hydrocarbons, isomers, and homologues using a binary polar mobile phase. The present column efficiency reached 27 000 plates/m, which showed that the ionic liquid monoliths are alternative stationary phases in the separation of small molecules by high‐performance liquid chromatography