Bis-(4-stearoylaminophenyl)methane assembles in organic solvents and used as templates for preparation of SiO2 nanowires

Gelator, bis-(4-stearoylaminophenyl)methane (BSAPM), can be used to gelatinize some organic solvents, such as benzene and n-butanol and so on. TEM images of n-butanol gel indicate that BSAPM can self-assembled at lower concentration (less than 3 wt.%) into fiber-like aggregates, which in turn form an extended three-dimensional network structure. The driving force for BSAPM assembling in organic solvent is mainly hydrogen bonding, π–π stack interaction and other non-covalent intermolecular interaction. Using the fiber-like aggregates assembled by BSAPM as templates, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) can be adsorbed onto the surfaces of fiber-like aggregates and then polymerized by sol–gel polymerization. SiO2 nanowires were formed after calcinations. SEM and AFM images indicate that silica consisted of nanowires structures with diameters of 200–500 nm and lengths of 2–18 μm.