Preparation of ordered mesoporous silica materials templated by ionic liquids in alkaline condition

A serial of mesoporous silica materials (including highly ordered and worm-like mesoporous structure) have been successfully prepared using ionic liquids as templates in alkaline conditions. The combined characterizations of XRD, N2 isotherms, and TEM techniques exhibit that samples templated by ionic liquids produced from long-chain alkyl bromide (I-16 and I-14) show highly ordered mesoporous structure with uniform pore size and high surface area in the presence of NaOH or ammonia. Additionally, worm-like mesoporous silica materials have been also prepared using ionic liquids produced from short-chain alkyl bromide (I-12, I-10 and I-8) as templates in the presence of NaOH, tetramethylammonium hydroxide or ammonia. Our present work is of importance because it provides a new methodology to synthesize mesoporous materials for various applications.