A mixed neutral - Cationic surfactant templating pathway to cubic mesoporous molecular sieves

A mixed neutral - cationic surfactant templating pathway is disclosed for the first time to demonstrate the easy synthesis of cubic phase MCM - 48. In this approach, commercially available neutral surfactant n - dodecylamine (DDA) is selected along with cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl - ammonium bromide (CTAB) to assemble the micelle leading to some changes on the properties of the MCM - 48 thus obtained. The synthesis is conducted at a low mass fraction of mixed surfactant (4%) and a low molar ratio of total surfactants to silica (0. 16). The unit cell parameter of MCM - 48 is tunable in sub - angstrom precision by simply varying the amount of DDA in the mixed micelle. A more extensively cross - linked framework and therefore a higher thermal stability in our MCM - 48 materials can be achieved with the introduction of DDA to the mixed surfactant micelle. Templating pathway by mixing different sorts of surfactants may provide for the facile synthesis of mesoporous molecular sieves with different properties.