Synthesis and thermal conductivity of sintered bodies with ordered mesoporous structures

Abstract

Mesoporous silica MCM-41 with the hexagonally ordered mesoporous structure was sintered in air or N₂ in order to obtain bulk sintered bodies with highly ordered mesopores. Although XRD patterns showed that the ordering of the mesoporous structure of MCM-41 disappeared during sintering at 700 ˚C in air, the sintered samples with the porosity of 10-50% showed significantly low thermal conductivities in comparison with conventional porous materials. Moreover the ordering of the mesoporous structure was maintained in N₂ at higher temperature than in air, because MCM-41 shows higher thermal stability in the absence of oxygen. E-mail: [e-mail]