Materials Chemistry Commons^™

Macroporous Silica Using A “Sticky” Stöber Process, Rebecca Cademartiri, Michael A. Brook, Robert Pelton, John D. Brennan

Rebecca Cademartiri

The generation of macroporous silica structures using a sol–gel process generally requires the presence of high molecular weight, water-soluble polymers. We demonstrate that significantly lower molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) polymers can drive a particle aggregation process to generate macroporous silica. Compared to unfunctionalized PEGs (HO–PEG–HO, molecular weight > 10 000 g mol−1), PEG polymers with allyl (A–PEG–A) or silyl end groups (CH2)3Si(OEt)3 (Si–PEG–Si), with molecular weights of 2000 g mol−1 or greater, lead to monolithic macroporous structures derived from aggregates of nearly monodisperse particles. Lower molecular weight (less than 1000 g mol−1) allyl or silyl PEG, or hydroxy-terminated PEG–OH, lead …