OIL-WATER INTERFACE TEMPLATING OF MESOPOROUS MACROSCALE STRUCTURES

Ordered mesostructured porous silicas that are also macroscopically st ructured were created by control of the interface on two different len gth scales simultaneously. Micellar arrays controlled the nanometer-sc ale assembly, and at the static boundary between an aqueous phase and an organic phase, control was achieved on the micrometer to centimeter scale. Acid-prepared mesostructures of silica were made with the p6, Pm3n, and the P6(3)/mmc structures in the form of porous fibers 50 to 1000 micrometers in length, hollow spheres with diameters of 1 to 100 micrometers, and thin sheets up to 10 centimeters in diameter and abou t 10 to 500 micrometers in thickness, These results might have implica tions for technical applications, such as slow drug-release systems or membranes, and in biomineralization, where many processes are also in terface-controlled.