Tubular morphology of mesoporous silica MCM-41

We investigated detailed conditions for synthesizing the tubular form of MCM-41 mesoporous aluminosilicate. The method is the delayed neutralization method in which the rate of neutralization is one of the controlling factors. Rapid neutralization results in the particulate form while gradual neutralization leads to tubules. It is found that the tubule morphology has several sub-categories. There are thick-walled, think-walled hollow tubular MCM-41 and solid core tubules. There are void structures in the channel framework that makes the nanochannels to be effectively interconnected.