A Facile Route to Synthesize Micron Size Nearly Spherical Mesoporous Silica Particles

For many applications as structured packing material, the micron size spherical silica particles with the bicontinuous mesoporous structures are required. Herein, we report a facile route to synthesize the micron size nearly spherical mesoporous silica (MSNSMS) particles. The chitosan is crucial in the synthesis strategy as an adjuvant agent to facilitate the formation of the micron size nearly spherical particles. The MSNSMS particles demonstrate narrow mesopore and particle size distributions with the average particle sizes at 3.6 μm (MSNSMS-0.5) or 4.7 μm (MSNSMS-1). The MSNSMS samples possess the large ordered domains of pure bicontinuous mesoporous structure with the interpenetrating cylindrical pores at about 8 nm in diameter. The MSNSMS particles are promising structured packing material candidate for catalyst support applications.