Controllable silica morphology transition from tremella-like spheres to brush-like fibers induced by β-cyclodextrin

Abstract Tremella-like silica spheres (TSSs) and brush-like silica fibers (BSFs) with well-defined structures were synthesized using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium dodecyl sulfate aggregate as structure-directing agent and β -cyclodextrin ( β -CD) as inducing agent. By controlling the amount of β -CD, the morphology of mesoporous silica was changed from TSSs to BSFs and then back to TSSs. The materials were characterized by using several techniques. The extraordinary mesoporous silica with a brush-like shape and measuring 180–220 nm wide and 6–20 μm long were formed as a result of the diameter of the U-shaped silica skeleton. These two kinds of materials can be used as fluorescent hybrid materials by immobilizing Rhodamine B (Rh B). Furthermore, the hybrid materials were well characterized by the fluorescence spectra to prove that BSFs-Rh B has excellent fluorescence property.