Large scale synthesis of mesoporous and nonporous silica submicron particles via polymer-derived ceramic method

Mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) are highly important in applications like H2 storage, catalysis/biocatalysis, adsorption, separation, and particularly in biomedical applications. The typical methods for producing MSPs are fast self-assembly, soft and hard templating, and the modified Stober method. These approaches have drawbacks like high cost, being time-consuming, and low scale. Herein, as a novel strategy, a polymer-derived ceramic method for large-scale production of mesoporous and dense silica submicron particles with high yield and low cost is presented. This method requires commercial silicone resin, polydimethylsiloxane, as the main precursor of silica. However, this technique did not show high control over the size and surface area compared with the typical methods of MSPs synthesis but is definitely a significant step toward the large-scale synthesis of MSPs. The schematic of mesoporous silica submicron particles fabrication by PDC method. First, PDMS is heat treated in the air to yield ceramic particles, and then their microstructural properties are studied by electron microscopies.image