Influence of catalyst and solvent on the preparation of silica particles with mesoporous shell

Silica spheres with sub-micrometer sized mesoporous shell structure were prepared. Effect of different catalyst and solvent on the synthesis of silica particles with mesoporous shell is studied. Depending on its constituents the particle properties are changed. The synthesized materials were characterized by different physicochemical methods such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron micrograph, transmission electron micrograph, thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis, nitrogen adsorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The analysis reveals that the synthesized materials are having mesoporous shell structure. The mesoporosity increases with catalyst size maybe due to incorporation of more octadecyltrimethoxy silane in shell followed by the elimination of organics on calcinations.