Synthesis of spherical mesoporous silica beads with tunable size, stiffness and porosity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, template-free water-based sol-gel method to produce uniform, tunable mesoporous silica beads with adjustable size, stiffness, and porosity, suitable for adsorption and catalytic applications.

Contribution

A novel enzymatic, template-free synthesis process for uniform mesoporous silica beads with controllable properties and demonstrated CO2 adsorption capabilities.

Findings

Beads have diameters of 1-5 mm with Young's modulus of 0.1-2 GPa.

Pore sizes are centered around 10-25 nm, tunable by conditions.

Surface functionalization enhances CO2 adsorption efficiency.

Abstract

We present an innovative template-free water-based sol-gel method to produce uniform mesoporous silica beads of millimeter size, which have tunable size, stiffness and porosity, and could be used for adsorption applications. Our protocol exploits an in-situ enzymatic reaction to produce spherical beads of hydrogel from a charge-stabilized suspension of silica nanoparticles confined in a millimetric drop suspended in a non-miscible oil. Once the gelation step is complete, the spherical bead of gel is cleaned from oil and deposited onto a hydrophobic surface and let dry. Separating the gelation to the drying steps ensures a spatially uniform gel and allows us to perform a solvent exchange before drying. For all beads, we observe a crack-free drying process leading to the formation of stiff quasi-spherical beads with diameter in the range 1 to 5 mm and Young modulus in the range $(0.1-2)$ GPa and narrow pore size distribution, centered around $10$ to $25$ nm depending on the experimental conditions. Finally, to demonstrate the potentiality of these materials, we graft on the bead surface aminosilane molecules, and quantify their CO$_2$ adsorption efficiency. Overall, the production method we have developed is simple, readily adaptable, and offers promising materials for adsorption, storage, catalysis and chromatography.