Preparation of mesoporous spherulites in surfactant solutions

A new mesoporous structure, silicate spherulite, has been produced in dilute surfactant and silicate solutions. The spherulites were formed from radially arranged rod-like micelles. The surfactant molecules in the rod-like micelles can be removed by heat treatment to leave a unique mesoporous material with radially arranged channels for easy access. Although the spherulite morphology has been observed in the nucleation and growth of polymeric crystals for a long time, it has not been reported in surfactant solutions. Similar to the polymeric materials, the surfactant spherulites are most likely the fingerprints of the early nucleation process in the preparation of ordered mesophase silicates.