The synthesis of MCM-41 with different macropore morphologies: Residual volume- and skeletal-structure Original Research Article

Different macropore morphologies, such as residual volume structure and skeletal structure for the meso/macroporous MCM-41, were prepared by a new and simpler dual templating method: the liquid crystal mesophase of surfactant and the closed packed array of colloidal crystal. Different shrinking modes of mesophases were induced by changing the nature of silica source and the reaction temperature, leading to the two different macromorphologies. The contribution of macrophases with better accessibility was demonstrated by enhanced adsorption dynamics for p-xylene.