Order–Disorder–Order Mesophase Transitions in Self-Assembled Mesoporous Alumina for Enhanced CO2 Adsorption

The addition of a hydrophobic micelle pore expander to self-assembling mesostructured hybrid materials enables access to new combinations with differently ordered mesophases and enhanced structural properties. Here we detail our investigations into the influence of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB) on the self-assembly behaviors of an F127 Pluronic triblock copolymer with an aluminum oxide sol additive. By varying the chemical mixing sequence, the TMB-to-F127 mass ratio and the acid-to-metal molar ratio, we observed that TMB exhibits dual roles, functioning both as a hydrophobic swelling agent and as a low dielectric co-solvent. This induces a mesophase transition from an ordered p6mm lattice to a disordered state and subsequently back to the ordered p6mm phase. We propose a structure formation mechanism based on the DLVO theory to describe the thermodynamics and kinetic mobility of the hybrid micelles during the order-disorder and ensuing disorder-order mesophase transitions. The resulting ordered mesoporous alumina structures, with considerable pore sizes (up to 12 nm), high surface areas (up to 314 m2/g) and pore volumes (up to 0.74 cm3/g), organized pore geometry and variable inorganic wall thicknesses, have shown excellent CO2 adsorption capacities and are appealing for various applications, including stable high temperature catalyst supports, separation and sensing.