Synthesis of silica particles with lamellar and wormhole-like bi-modal mesopores using anionic surfactant as the template

Silica particles with lamellar and wormhole-like bi-modal mesopores have been synthesized using anionic surfactant (N-lauroylsarcosine sodium) as the template. The particles with diameters of 300–500 nm possess bi-modal mesopores with pore sizes of 3 nm and 12 nm, which were ascribed to the disordered wormhole-like mesophase and lamellar mesophase, respectively. The BET surface area of the particles was 536 m²/g and the pore volume was 0.83 cm³/g. The lamellar mesophase and cylindrical mesophase were formed due to the co-assembly of the anionic surfactant and its protonized polar oil.