One-Pot Synthesis of Aminated Bimodal Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as Silver-Embedded Antibacterial Nanocarriers and CO 2 Capture Sorbents.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles have highly versatile structural properties that are suitable for a plethora of applications including catalysis, separation, and nanotherapeutics. We report a one-pot synthesis strategy that generates bimodal mesoporous silica nanoparticles via coassembly of a structure-directing Gemini surfactant (C _16-3-16 ) with a tetraethoxysilane/(3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane-derived sol additive. Synthesis temperature enables control of the nanoparticle shape, structure, and mesopore architecture. Variations of the aminosilane/alkylsilane molar ratio further enable programmable adjustments of hollow to core-shell and dense nanoparticle morphologies, bimodal pore sizes, and surface chemistries. The resulting Gemini-directed aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles have excellent carbon dioxide adsorption capacities and antimicrobial properties against Escherichia coli . Our results provide an enhanced understanding of the structure formation of multiscale mesoporous inorganic materials that are desirable for numerous applications such as carbon sequestration, water remediation, and biomedical-related applications.