Langmuir, Vol.24, No.9, 4827-4832, 2008
Pore morphology and interconnectivity in a mesoporous/macroporous polyhedral silica foam material
The pore system of a highly swollen, block-copolymer-templated, polyhedral silica foam material is investigated by a combination of transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen sorption, and NMR cryoporometry. The adsorption-desorption hysteresis and melting-freezing hysteresis data recorded by the respective methods provide pore Volume and access channel sizes that virtually coincide for the two used methods. This provides a consistent picture where polyhedral foam cells of 60-70 nm diameter are interconnected by cylindrical access channels with several characteristic sizes for the latter.