Mesoporous Building Blocks: Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Particles and Films

摘要: Catalyst supports, drug delivery systems, hosts for nanoparticles, and solar cells are just some examples of the wide range of exciting applications for mesoporous silica. In order to optimize the performance of a specific application, controlling the material’s morphology and pore size is crucial. For example, short and separated particles are beneficial for drug delivery systems, while for molecular sieves, the pore size is the key parameter.In this thesis, mesoporous silica building blocks, crystallites, with hexagonally ordered cylindrical pores were synthesized, with the aim to understand how the synthesis parameters affect the particle morphology and pore size. The synthesis of the particles is performed using a sol-gel process, and in order to increase the pore size, a combination of low temperature, and additions of heptane and NH