Preparation of mesostructured materials from tetramethoxysilane and alkyltrimethylammonium salts and their conversion to porous silica

A novel synthetic route for the preparation of the porous silica by a supramolecular templating mechanism is reported. By depositing the precursor solution containing tetramethoxysilane and hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride on glass plates at an elevated temperature (60 °C), mesostructured silica-hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride composites with the size of a few mm to a cm have been prepared. The composition of the resulting products can be controlled by simply changing the composition of the starting mixtures. By the calcination of the as synthesized mesostructured materials, porous silica with large surface area was obtained. Due to the ease of operation, the present method is a simple way to prepare porous silica alternative to the procedures reported for the preparation of mesoporous silicas (MCM-41 and FSM-16).