Silica foams with ultra-large specific surface area structured by hollow mesoporous silica spheres

Ceramic foams with multi-scale pores and large specific surface area have received extensive attention due to their unique structure and superior properties. Considering that there are still challenges to synthesize porous ceramics with large specific surface area, a novel ceramic foam material with ultra-large specific surface area has been prepared using hollow silica mesoporous spheres (HMSSs) as building block in this work. These building blocks were made weakly hydrophobic in order to produce HMSS particle stabilized foams. The foams exhibit a uniform primary macropore structure, which is composed of a three dimensional HMSS-assembled network, via HMSS-stabilized foams. The influence of sintering temperature on the microstructure and properties of HMSS foams is investigated. The HMSS foams exhibit highest specific surface area of 1733 m²/g, attributed to the radial mesopores in HMSS shell, when sintered at between 500°C and 800°C. This specific surface area is much higher than that of existing ceramic materials. The uniform pore structure and ultra-large specific surface area make it a promising lightweight material in potential application fields, including catalyst, adsorption, fire-resistant thermal insulation, and load and control release system.