Synthesis of mesoporous silica templated by Sodium N-dodecyl glycine

Ordered hollow mesoporous silica with vesicular structure or sheet-like mesoporous silica with hexagonal phase have been synthesized using an amphoteric amino acid surfactant sodium N-dodecyl glycine template, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as the co-structure-directing agent (CSDA), and tetrapropylammonium bromide as co-templating agent, respectively. The electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding connected by amino groups of template are two chief factors in formation of the surfactant vesicles, which direct vesicular structure synthesis. Their ordered mesostructure was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption analysis.