Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Mesomorphous Complex Templating: A Versatile Approach for Hierarchically Porous Materials

Abstract

Hierarchically porous materials have attracted great attention because of their potential applications in the fields of adsorption, catalysis, and biomedical systems. The art of manipulating different templates that are used for pore construction is the key to fabricating desired hierarchically porous structures. In this feature article, the polyelectrolyte−surfactant mesomorphous complex templating (PSMCT) approach, which was first developed by our group, is elaborated on. During the organic−inorganic self-assembly, the mesomorphous complex of the polyelectrolyte and oppositely charged surfactants would undergo in situ phase separation, which is the key to fabricating hierarchically porous materials. The recent progress in the utilization of the PSMCT method for the synthesis of hierarchically porous materials with tunable morphologies, mesophases, pore structures, and compositions is reviewed. Meanwhile, the functions of the hierarchically porous materials synthesized by the PSMCT method and their applications in adsorption, catalysis, drug delivery, and nanocasting are also briefly summarized.

Hierarchically structured porous materials: synthesis strategies and applications in energy storage

“…produced hierarchically trimodal macro-meso-mesoporous materials by using polymer spheres as macro-template, block copolymers with large molecular weight and ionic liquids with small molecular weight as dual surfactant templates [ 65 ]. Recently, a surfactant-based dynamic template method—polyelectrolyte-surfactant mesomorphous complex templating method—has attracted much attention for its potential applications in the preparation of hierarchically structured porous materials [ 66 ]. In the synthesis process, the dynamic self-assembly induced by in situ phase separation mechanism plays a key role (Fig.…”

“… (a) Schematic illustration of the polyelectrolyte-assisted surfactant templating method for hierarchially porous silica (reproduced with permission [ 66 ], Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society); (b) schematic demonstration of a two-step fabrication process of the W/O/W emulsions (reproduced with permission [ 70 ], Copyright 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry); (c) schematic presentation of the formation of honeycomb films by the breath figure strategy (reproduced with permission [ 80 ], Copyright 2014, Royal Society of Chemistry). …”

Deciphering the Supramolecular Organization of Multiple Guests Inside a Microporous MOF to Understand their Release Profile

“…Some of them will be in fact involved in stabilizing contacts with the internal surface of the pore,while others will be less tightly anchored within the host cavity.A ccordingly, the energy necessary to observe the departure of the included guest molecules will not be the same for all the molecules,but it will depend on the strength of the host-guest interaction involving each single guest molecule.H ence,a ni n-depth knowledge of the guest distribution in the host cavity is of paramount importance to have acontrol on the final properties of the loaded material [21][22][23] especially when ac ontrolled guest release is desired. [24][25][26] Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are among the most promising porous materials. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] MOFs are 3D porous materials constituted by metal-containing nodes bridged by organic linkers.…”

Structure of nanoparticle‐polyelectrolyte complexes: Effects of polyelectrolyte characteristics and charge ratio

“…Electrostatic interaction-driven self-assembly of charge-bearing macromolecules and nanocolloids has garnered recent attention owing to their applications in diverse areas such as protein encapsulation, 1,2 delivery 1,3 and purification, [4][5][6] diagnostics, 7 biosensing, [8][9][10] water treatment, 11,12 catalysis 13,14 and mesoporous zeolite synthesis. 15,16 Mesoscale assemblies of polyelectrolytes (PEs) and nanocolloids (nanoparticles [NPs], proteins, macroions) into micellar [17][18][19][20] and rodlike [21][22][23] structures have been reported 24 alongside demonstrations of close-packed assembly of charged NPs using PEs. [25][26][27][28][29][30] Such approaches provide an alternative route to create supramolecular NP assemblies that are typically created via DNA grafting-mediated self-assembly, [31][32][33][34][35][36] lithography, [37][38][39][40] and evaporation-based assembly [40][41][42][43] which lack scalability and have high costs associated with their production.…”

“…Electrostatic interaction‐driven self‐assembly of charge‐bearing macromolecules and nanocolloids has garnered recent attention owing to their applications in diverse areas such as protein encapsulation, 1,2 delivery 1,3 and purification, 4–6 diagnostics, 7 biosensing, 8–10 water treatment, 11,12 catalysis 13,14 and mesoporous zeolite synthesis 15,16 . Mesoscale assemblies of polyelectrolytes (PEs) and nanocolloids (nanoparticles [NPs], proteins, macroions) into micellar 17–20 and rod‐like 21–23 structures have been reported 24 alongside demonstrations of close‐packed assembly of charged NPs using PEs 25–30 .…”