Continuous flow tuning of ordered mesoporous silica under ambient conditions

Mesoporous silica SBA-15 is formed at room temperature, with significantly shortened pre-calcining reaction times, down to minutes under continuous flow conditions using a vortex fluidic device. This is associated with controllable pore size by varying the shear on the preformed micelles, from 2.8 nm to 3.8 nm, and a constant wall thickness at similar to 5 nm.