Preparation of mesoporous nanofibers by vapor phase synthesis: control of mesopore structures with the aid of co-surfactants

Nanotechnology. 2013 Jun 28;24(25):255602. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/24/25/255602. Epub 2013 May 30.

Abstract

Mesoporous nanofibers (MSNFs) can be fabricated in the pores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane using diverse methods. Among them vapor phase synthesis (VPS) provides several advantages over sol-gel or evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) based methods. One powerful advantage is that we can employ multiple surfactants as structural directing agents (SDAs) simultaneously. By adopting diverse pairs of SDAs, we can control the mesopore structures, i.e. pore size, surface area, and even the morphology of mesostructures. Here, we used F127 as a main SDA, which is relatively robust (thus, difficult to change the mesopore structures), and added a series of cationic co-surfactants to observe the systematical changes in their mesostructure with respect to the chain length of the co-surfactant.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aluminum Oxide / chemistry
  • Nanofibers / chemistry*
  • Nanofibers / ultrastructure*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Porosity
  • Surface-Active Agents / chemistry*
  • Volatilization

Substances

  • Surface-Active Agents
  • Aluminum Oxide