POROUS SILICA OF SELF-SIMILAR MORPHOLOGY

New mesoporous silica was prepared using the template of the bicontinu ous layered structure from the bicontinuous phase of poly(oxyethylene) dodecyl ether, H2O, and isooctane and the aqueous phase of 6 N HCl an d teraethoxysilane. The synthesized silica was characterized by scanni ng electron microscopy (SEM) observation, X-ray diffraction, small ang le X-ray scattering (SAXS), mercury porosimetry, and N-2 adsorption at 77 K. The structure had a fractal nature of which cluster fractal dim ensions are 1.7 and 1.83 from SEM observation and SAXS, respectively. The silica structure was noncrystalline like MCM-41. The prepared sili ca was highly porous and had a wide range pores from ultramicropores t o macropores.