摘要 |
The invention relates to the preparation of monolithic silica under mild conditions from alkoxysilanes derived from sugars, sugar acids, sugar alcohols and polysaccharides including glycerol, sorbitol, mannose and dextran. Unlike the commonly used silica starting material TEOS (Si(OEt)4), the sol-gel hydrolysis and cure of the sugar derivatives are not very sensitive to pH as similar rates of gelation were observed over a pH range of about 5.5-11. The morphology of the resulting silicas could be varied using specific additives, including multivalent ions and hydrophilic polymers. |