Mesoporous materials
The research concerns making mesoporous silica membranes and other inorganic porous species. One method used involves a combination of surfactant and polymer to template the film. The silicate precursor will be attracted to cationic surfactant micelles upon mixture with the surfactant-polymer solution. The silicate precursor, a sodium silicate solution, is an novel, environmentally friendly source silicafor film formation. The nature of the surfactants can be used to improve the films. For example, amphiphilic polyoxometalates (POM) which is a surfactant with a metal cluster as the headgroup, POM will form inverse micelles in organic solvents (like dichloromethane, acetonitrile, hexadecane, and toluene). As POM are useful catalysts in a variety of oxidation reaction, encapsulating these amphiphiles will enhance the catalytic efficiency and may be an efficient way to design different porous structures.