Surfactant-assisted synthesis of the SBA-8 mesoporous silica by using nonrigid commercial alkyltrimethyl ammonium surfactants

A new simple method for obtaining the intermediate ribbonlike SBA-8 mesoporous silica is presented and discussed. WE show how the SBA-8 phase can be prepared with the help of commercial alkyltrimethylammonium nonrigid surfactants (such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) instead of rigid bolaform amphiphiles, which were used as templates in the only SBA-8 synthesis procedure previously reported. The method is based on the use of atrane complexes as silicon precursors, and we also show how bringing into play fundamental kinetic parameters (like reaction time and temperature at which the successive reaction steps are carried out) makes it possible to modulate the resulting material topology.