10.1021/la900023p.s001 Sandy Budi Hartono Sandy Budi Hartono Shi Zhang Qiao Shi Zhang Qiao Kevin Jack Kevin Jack Bradley P. Ladewig Bradley P. Ladewig Zhengping Hao Zhengping Hao Gao Qing (Max) Lu Gao Qing (Max) Lu Improving Adsorbent Properties of Cage-like Ordered Amine Functionalized Mesoporous Silica with Very Large Pores for Bioadsorption American Chemical Society 2009 XPS adsorption capacity MAS Amine Functionalized Mesoporous Silica BSA APTES FDU pore mesoporous material SAXS TEM amine organosilane mesoporous silica synthesis temperature domain transmission electron microscopy NMR mesostructure TGA amine functionalized mesoporous silica entrance size enlargement hydrothermal treatment temperature 2009-06-02 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Improving_Adsorbent_Properties_of_Cage_like_Ordered_Amine_Functionalized_Mesoporous_Silica_with_Very_Large_Pores_for_Bioadsorption/2853388 In this paper, we report the successful synthesis of amine-functionalized FDU-12-type mesoporous silica with a very large pore (30.2 nm) and a highly ordered mesostructure by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as an organosilane source. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements confirmed that the materials possessed a face-centered cubic (space group <i>Fm</i>3<i>̅m</i>) mesostructure. Different techniques were used to obtain a significant pore and entrance size enlargement: low synthesis temperature and high hydrothermal treatment temperature. The amount of amine organosilane influenced the mesostructure of the mesoporous silica. It was found that the addition of inorganic salt (KCl) could help to maintain an ordered structure of the large pore mesoporous material. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) <sup>13</sup>C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) verified the incorporation of amine functional groups on the surface of the materials. The addition of amine organosilane extended the synthesis temperature domain of ordered FDU-12 materials. The amine functional group significantly enhanced the adsorption capacity of the mesoporous materials, e.g., the amine functionalized mesoporous silica had 8-fold higher bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption capacity than that of the unfunctionalized one. It also had 2 times higher adsorption capacity for large cellulase enzymes. The amine functional group introduced positively charged groups on the surface of the mesoporous silica, which created strong electrostatic interactions between the protein and the silica.