Controlling nanostructure in periodic mesoporous hexylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes

Periodic mesoporous bridged polysilsesquioxane (PMBPS) materials are hybrid organic inorganic materials with long range order and porosity between 1-15 nm length scales and great promise as adsorbents and chromatographic materials. In this study, we describe the preparation and optimization of a class of PMBPS with hexylene-bridging groups and cubic Pm3n symmetry. These rhexylene-PMBPSs were prepared by surfactant templating of the sol-gel polymerization of 1,6-bis(triethoxysilyl)hexane (BESH) with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CAB) and N-(3-trimethylammoniumpropyl)hexadecylammonium dibromide (C16-3-1). Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nitrogen adsorption data were used to ascertain the influence on the mesostructure as a function of monomer concentration and aging duration, and aging temperature. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.