Bimodal Porous Silica Prepared from Water Glass by Inducing Phase Separation

Abstract

An amorphous silica with distinct bimodal pore structure containing both macropores and mesopores was prepared from an acidified solution of water glass in the presence of poly (acrylic acid) by inducing phase separation together with gelation. Both of pore sizes of the macropores and the mesopores can be controlled in the ranges from 1 to 10μm and from 4 to 30nm, respectively.