Hierarchically Porous Silica Prepared with Anionic Polyelectrolyte–Nonionic Surfactant Mesomorphous Complex as Dynamic Template

Hierarchically porous silica KIT-6 and SBA-15 mesostructures were successfully synthesized by using a mesomorphous complex of a nonionic triblock copolymer (pluronic P123) and an anionic polyelectrolyte (polyacrylic acid) as the dynamic template. The obtained mesoporous silica materials possessed both ordered mesopores (∼7 nm) and nanopores (∼15–50 nm), and the long-range order of the mesophase was not perturbed by the embedded larger secondary nanopores. Moreover, hierarchically porous silica KIT-6 exhibited enhanced adsorption capacity in enzyme and protein immobilization, which was attributed to the hierarchically porous structure.