Synthesis of monodisperse silica microspheres with solid core and mesopore shell

Well-dispersed silica microspheres (~500 nm) with solid core and ordered mesopore shell were synthesized by amphiphilic triblock copolymers (Pluronic P123) and quaternary ammonium surfactant (CTAB) as co-templates. The mesoporous silica shell with large surface area (188 m²/g) has mesochannels parallel to the spherical surface. Furthermore, the hydrothermal treatment (~130°C) was introduced to enlarge the pore size (~7.3 nm) and pore volume (0.23 cm³/g).