Patent ID: 7572424

Claim:
A method of self-assembly of uniform nanoporous silica fibers comprising: liquid crystal templating and condensing a silica precursor using a cationic surfactant template; adding an acid to said surfactant, said acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric, nitric, phosphoric, and sulphuric and other strong acids to achieve a required molar ratio; mixing said surfactant, said cationic surfactant template, said acid and either ultrapure or deionized water by stirring at room temperature for approximately one minute creating a first mixture; cooling said first mixture down to a cold temperature from a freezing solution temperature to +10° C., for a first time, approximately 15 minutes, creating a first mixture; adding a silica precursor cooled to said cold temperature to said first mixture, creating a second mixture; stirring said second mixture for a second time, approximately 30 seconds; keeping said second mixture under said cold temperature for a third time, greater than 1 hour; collecting nanoporous silica fiber powder by either centrifugation or filtration; washing said collected powder with pure water; and drying said collected powder, wherein a final molar ratio of reactants is 100 for H 2 O:; X for HCl:; Y for said cationic surfactant template:; 0.13 for said silica precursor, further wherein X is 7 to 11 and Y is 0.05 or higher.