Synthesis and characterization of cok-12 ordered mesoporous silica at room temperature under buffered quasi neutral pH

A procedure to synthesize ordered mesoporous silica denoted COK-12 under mild conditions is presented. A P6m ordered mesoporous silica with uniform pores is synthesized at room temperature and quasi neutral pH. The synthesis makes use of P123 triblock copolymer in an aqueous citric acid / sodium citrate buffer solution and sodium silicate as Si precursor. Synthesis examples of COK-12 materials are presented and the materials characterized using small angle X-ray scattering, nitrogen sorption, electron microscopy, 29 Si MAS NMR and thermogravimetric analysis.