Hierarchical control of porous silica by pH adjustment: Alkyl polyamines as surfactants for bimodal silica synthesis and its carbon replica

Bimodal macro-mesoporous silica networks have been prepared in a simple one-pot synthesis using an inexpensive tetramine surfactant and tetraethoxysilane as a silica precursor. These novel materials show high pore volumes and templated mesopores (average pore size 3.0 nm) embedded in 20 nm thick walls forming interparticle large meso/macropores. The judicious control of the pH during the silica formation allows for the precise control of the interparticle condensation, likely due to the change in the interaction between the tetramine surfactant and the silica precursors. Finally, a highly porous carbon replica with bimodal porosity was prepared by using the bimodal silica as a hard sacrificial template. The microstructure of the silica template was accurately transferred to the carbon material obtaining high surface areas (up to 1300 m2 g−1) and total pore volumes ≥2 cm3 g−1.