Different neutral surfactant template extraction routes for synthetic hexagonal mesoporous silicas

The co-condensation of a tetraethoxysilane molecule on a neutral n-octylamine surfactant template is a convenient synthetic methodology for mesostructured material preparations. Distinct routes of template removal were investigated. The neutral surfactant was removed by calcination, hot solvent extraction, heating at 150 uC, in vacuo at room temperature and at 100 uC, and air drying, with the products assigned as HMM, HMS, HME, HMV1, HMV2 and HM, respectively. Si NMR, infrared, surface area, pore diameters and pore volume determinations were employed to characterize each sample. Elemental analysis detected the presence of amine residues of 1.8, 1.2, 0.2, 1.6 and 0.30 mmol g for HMA, HME, HMS, HMV1 and HMV2, respectively. The HMM, HMS and HMV2 samples presented a low amount of amine residues, and HMS and HMV2 have the great advantage of permitting template removal without calcination.