A tri-continuous mesoporous material with a silica pore wall following a hexagonal minimal surface
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research CenterChemical Science Program
Nanostructured Functional Materials (NFM) laboratory
Office of the VP
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2009-04-06Online Publication Date
2009-04-06Print Publication Date
2009-05Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/561420
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ordered porous materials with unique pore structures and pore sizes in the mesoporous range (2-50nm) have many applications in catalysis, separation and drug delivery. Extensive research has resulted in mesoporous materials with one-dimensional, cage-like and bi-continuous pore structures. Three families of bi-continuous mesoporous materials have been made, with two interwoven but unconnected channels, corresponding to the liquid crystal phases used as templates. Here we report a three-dimensional hexagonal mesoporous silica, IBN-9, with a tri-continuous pore structure that is synthesized using a specially designed cationic surfactant template. IBN-9 consists of three identical continuous interpenetrating channels, which are separated by a silica wall that follows a hexagonal minimal surface. Such a tri-continuous mesostructure was predicted mathematically, but until now has not been observed in real materials. © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.Citation
Han, Y., Zhang, D., Chng, L. L., Sun, J., Zhao, L., Zou, X., & Ying, J. Y. (2009). A tri-continuous mesoporous material with a silica pore wall following a hexagonal minimal surface. Nature Chemistry, 1(2), 123–127. doi:10.1038/nchem.166Sponsors
We thank C. Bonneau for discussion related to topology and minimal surfaces, and P. Oleynikov for software assistance. This research is supported by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Biomedical Research Council, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore), the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). J.-L.S. is supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Carl-Trygger Foundation.Publisher
Springer NatureJournal
Nature ChemistryPubMed ID
21378824ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/nchem.166
Scopus Count
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