Triblock Copolymer Synthesis of Nanoporous Materials by Sol-Gel Proccesing

초록

Highly ordered mesoporous structures have been synthesized by using sol-gel processing. An amphiphilic triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO) was used as the structure-directing agent to produce the supramolecular cooperative self-assembly with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as inorganic silica source. Hydrolysis and condensation of the inorganic species were carried out under acidic conditions, where the hydrophilic ethylene oxide moieties were expected to be associated with the protonated silica by the reaction pathway of (S0H+)(X-I+). A long-range hexagonal mesoscopic order of the porous structures were strongly influenced by solution concentration, solvent type, and pH.