Leny Yuliati

By Hendrik O. Lintang and Leny Yuliati

Functionalized mesoporous silica materials (MSMs) using grafting (post-synthesis) and one-pot (co-condensation) synthesis methods of organic functional groups (periodic mesoporous organosilicas, PMOs) have been developed for many emerging applications. To improve the functions, designed MSMs have received particular attention using an organic motif as a molecule of surfactants for the template synthesis with a silica source in the sol-gel reaction. The resulting mesoporous silica materials can provide characteristic multifunctional nanocomposites consisting of a monomer for synthesizing polymer in the silicate nanochannels. Moreover, the nanocomposites can be also synthesized using a self-assembled organic motif for organizing one-dimensional structure in the silicate nanochannels. The resulting hybrid nanomaterials have been mainly reported to provide fluorescent properties. However, the utilization of phosphorescent nanocomposites for specific applications has not yet reported so far. By utilizing a self-assembled metal complex (organometallic), this chapter particularly highlights recent achievements of designed mesoporous silica materials for the fabrication of advanced luminescent nanostructures with phosphorescent properties where the potential applications will be discussed in detail for self-repairing and thermally resistive materials, metal ions sensors, template synthesis nanoparticles, and catalysts. Such better and novel performance can be only achieved using a designed template for the sol-gel synthesis of mesoporous silica nanocomposites.

Part of the book: Mesoporous Materials