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Mesoporous silica
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<p>Mesoporous silica is a form of <a href="/facts/Silica/A3WILp6J">silica</a> that is characterised by its <a href="/facts/Mesoporous/fvdgQ0z6">mesoporous</a> structure, that is, having pores that range from 2 nm to 50 nm in diameter. According to <a href="/facts/IUPAC/2AV6myCK">IUPAC</a>'s terminology, mesoporosity sits between microporous (<2 nm) and macroporous (>50 nm). Mesoporous silica is a relatively recent development in <a href="/facts/Nanotechnology/Co4FFNfY">nanotechnology</a>. The most common types of mesoporous nanoparticles are <a href="/facts/MCM-41/HPblslAS">MCM-41</a> and <a href="/facts/Santa_Barbara_Amorphous-15/ESeBS0j5">SBA-15</a>. Research continues on the particles, which have applications in <a href="/facts/Catalysis/LPBS7TQC">catalysis</a>, <a href="/facts/Drug_delivery/vDfboXeT">drug delivery</a> and <a href="/facts/Medical_imaging/pL6JyJEp">imaging</a>. Mesoporous ordered silica films have been also obtained with different pore topologies. </p><p>A compound producing mesoporous silica was patented around 1970. It went almost unnoticed and was reproduced in 1997. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were independently synthesized in 1990 by researchers in Japan. They were later produced also at Mobil Corporation laboratories and named <a href="/facts/Mobil_Composition_of_Matter/P8STgHnt">Mobil Composition of Matter</a> (or Mobil Crystalline Materials, MCM). </p><p>Six years later, silica nanoparticles with much larger (4.6 to 30 nanometer) pores were produced at the <a href="/facts/University_of_California,_Santa_Barbara/G7UvBWlK">University of California, Santa Barbara</a>. The material was named Santa Barbara Amorphous type material, or <a href="/facts/Santa_Barbara_Amorphous-15/ESeBS0j5">SBA-15</a>. These particles also have a hexagonal array of pores. </p><p>The researchers who invented these types of particles planned to use them as <a href="/facts/Molecular_sieves/Lzle8J7k">molecular sieves</a>. Today, mesoporous silica nanoparticles have many applications in <a href="/facts/Medicine/2fnp90Je">medicine</a>, <a href="/facts/Biosensor/MaUAS0gD">biosensors</a>, thermal energy storage, water/gas filtration and imaging. </p>