Azobenzene-derived surfactants as phototriggered recyclable templates for the synthesis of ordered mesoporous silica nanospheres.

Wei, Jing; Liu, Yuyun; Chen, Jia; Li, Yuhui; Yue, Qin; Pan, Gaoxiang; Yu, Yanlei; Deng, Yonghui et al. · Adv Mater · 2014

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

An azobenzene-derived surfactant behaves as a "smart" molecule. Not only is it used as the structure-directing agent to synthesize unique mesoporous silica nanospheres, but it can also be quickly released from the silica framework with UV light and subsequently recycled.