Control over morphology and internal mesostructure of surfactant templated silicas remains a challenge, especially when considering scaling laboratory syntheses up to industrial volumes. Here we report a method combining emulsification with the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method for preparing spherical, mesoporous silica particles. This emulsion and solvent evaporation (ESE) method has several potential advantages over classic precipitation routes: it is easily scaled while providing superior control over stoichiometric homogeneity of templating surfactants and inorganic precursors, and particle sizes and distributions are determined by principles developed for manipulating droplet sizes within water-in-oil emulsions. To demonstrate the method, triblock copolymer P104 is used as a templating amphiphile, generating unusually well-ordered 2D hexagonal (P6mm) mesoporous silica, while particle sizes and morphologies were controlled by varying the type of emulsifier and the method for emulsification.

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The facile preparation of a mesoporous magnetic carrier technology is demonstrated. The micronsized spherical mesostructured particles are prepared using a newly-developed, one-step, combined emulsion and solvent evaporation (ESE) method. The surfactant-templated silica matrix display a well-ordered internal pore architecture. Very limited pore blocking, and only to a limited degree disordered-or worm-like structures are observed, induced by the iron oxide nanoparticles added to provide the superparamagnetic properties.The iron oxide content was precisely controlled, and the magnetic properties were well preserved during the process. Finally we demonstrate the applicability of the magnetically separable mesoporous material as an adsorbent for specific dissolved materials from dilute aqueous solutions.

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An industrially viable production method is a prerequisite for the commercialization of templated mesostructured materials, e.g. as carriers of various functionalities in coatings, in the coatings of ink jet paper and liquid chromatography. A small pilot plant was constructed for the continuous production of well ordered mesostructured materials (>10g/h) that can easily be scaled to an industrial process. The silica colloids have a well controlled internal mesostructure and are spherical with a mean diameter of 1-5μm. The mesoscopic pores in the calcined materials are accessible to relatively large molecules; up to 25 % (by weight) of the cationic dye Janus Green B could be adsorbed from an aqueous solution. We have also demonstrated how optically functional silica colloids could be prepared in a one-pot synthesis by introducing different dyes into the precursor solution.