Molecular mechanisms of mesoporous silica formation from colloid solution: Ripening-reactions arrest hollow network structures
Fig 5
Evolution of the surface area and the occurrence of structural motifs as functions of agglomerate size.
(A) The degree of porosity may be illustrated by comparing the molecular surface area of the agglomerate to the theoretical boundaries of the total surface area of fully dispersed colloids (77% agreement) and merging into a single sphere (23% match). (B) Occurrence profiles of the coordination numbers for the colloidal building blocks, normalized with respect to the total number of colloids in the aggregate.