Synthesis of mesoporous silica with ordered nanostructural morphology from natural quartz sand

Abstract

Silica with ordered nanostructured morphology characteristic of mesoporous molecular sieves with cubic packing of cylindrical pores and a three-dimensional porous structure is obtained from natural quartz sand. It was shown by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption that the obtained silica material is thermally stable, amorphous, consists of submicron grains, has a high specific surface area of 1396 m2/g, a pore volume of 0.780 cm3/g and an average diameter of 2.2 nm with a narrow size distribution of mesopores.