Patent ID: 8383076

Claim:
A method for forming a silica composition, comprising: preparing a metal silicate precursor, the metal silicate precursor including silicon dioxide and a hydroxide MOH; preparing a surfactant solution, the surfactant solution including a cationic surfactant and an aliphatic anionic co-surfactant; mixing the metal silicate precursor and the surfactant solution to form a mixture; crystallizing the mixture to form the silica composition; and isolating the silica composition, wherein M is a cation with a valence of 1, the cationic surfactant has 10 or more carbon atoms, the aliphatic anionic co-surfactant has 4 or more carbon atoms, the molar ratio of the cationic surfactant to the silicon dioxide is less than or equal to 0.1:1, the molar ratio of the aliphatic anionic co-surfactant to the silicon dioxide is less than or equal to 0.1:1, and the molar ratio of the aliphatic anionic co-surfactant to the silicon dioxide is less than the molar ratio of the cationic surfactant to the silicon dioxide.