Crucial effect of stirring on the formation of periodic mesoporous organosilicas prepared under salt-mediated conditions

The effect of stirring treatment on the assembly of periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMO) using 1,2-bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethane as an precursor and triblock copolymer P123 as a template under salt-mediated (NaCl-ZrOCl2) conditions was investigated. It was demonstrated that, according to detailed characterizations, the stirring treatment during the preparation had a great impact on the formation of mesostructures. In contrast to the highly ordered mesoporous ethanesilica with particulate shape, a low-quality mesostructure with platelet-like morphology was clearly observed for the one prepared without stirring, and this observation was rarely reported in previous studies.