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“Salted Silica”: Sol‐Gel Chemistry of Silica under Hypersaline Conditions
Author(s) -
Nisticò Roberto,
Magnacca Giuliana,
Antonietti Markus,
Fechler Nina
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1521-3749
pISSN - 0044-2313
DOI - 10.1002/zaac.201300526
Subject(s) - tetraethyl orthosilicate , salt (chemistry) , mesoporous material , dissolution , chemical engineering , sol gel , solvent , specific surface area , chemistry , mesoporous silica , evaporation , silica gel , mineralogy , materials science , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , catalysis , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
In a facile one‐step approach, high surface area mesoporous silica powders are synthesized using ordinary salts for pore and morphology control during the sol‐gel process. Applying tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a reference system, the addition of high salt loads such as NaCl and ZnCl 2 results in highly increased surface areas of up to 750 m 2 g –1 , predominantly in the mesopore range Besides the surface area, the pore volume and the pore size can be controlled by the salt amount as well as the salt nature, reaching values of 1.1 cm 3 g –1 and 14 nm, respectively. Compared to standard processes, the herein presented synthesis is extremely simple: it only comprises the dissolution of TEOS and the respective salt in 1 M HCl, followed by solvent evaporation, salt removal through simple washing with water and drying. This way, no special equipment is required, no organic templates are to be employed, and the overall approach is highly efficient and sustainable.