Mesoporous Silica Materials Synthesized via Sol-Gel Methods Modified with Ionic Liquid and Surfactant Molecules

Mesoporous silica materials were synthesized via a sol-gel method employing a room temperature ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, bmimBF4) as a new solvent medium and further modified with surfactant (hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide, CTAB) as a pore templating material. The synthesized samples were characterized by the transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. The results indicated that the mesoporous silica synthesized by using bmimBF4 and CTAB as mixed templates showed better mesostructural order and smaller pore size, compared with mesoporous silica materials synthesized by using single bmimBF4 as template under the same conditions. This indicates that the presence of surfactant can affect the microstructures of silica prepared by the present synthesis method.