日本ゼオライト学会　刊行物 Publication of Japan Zeolite Association

Monodispersed mesoporous silica spheres (MMSS) are very unique, which have highly uniform particle diameter and radially aligned ordered mesopores. In the synthesis, small particles emerged suddenly and they grew homogeneously to their final size. By taking advantage of this formation mechanism, hydrophilic-core/hydrophobic-shell MMSS could be successfully obtained upon the further addition of different types of silica source. MMSS have pores whose sizes are in nanometer range and various types of nanoparticles are assumed to be incorporated. We have found that more than 19 wt% of iron oxide nanoparticles could be incorporated in mesopores in only one operation by using ferrocenecarbaldehyde as an iron oxide source. In addition, a colloidal crystal could be fabricated from the iron oxide/MMSS composite. MMSS are expected to be useful as a model catalyst in mesoporous catalyst research because they have uniform particles size, pore diameter, and mesopore arrangement. The effectiveness factor of MMSS in an acid-catalyzed reaction was obtained for the first time.