Templated self-assembly of ordered mesoporous silica on clay nanotubes

A novel self-assembly strategy of ordered silica arrays on halloysite clay nanotubes allows to obtain mesoporous MCM-41 materials with enhanced thermal and mechanical stability. The formation of structured mesoporous silica phase on halloysite is based on the assembly of cationic amphiphile molecules onto a negative nanotube’s surface. Resulting MCM-41/halloysite composite demonstrated thermo- and mechanical stability up to 1100 °C and 500 MPa making a great potential improvement for application of mesoporous materials as industrial catalysts carriers and adsorbents.