Mesoporous Aluminosilicates as a Host and Reactor for Preparation of Ordered Metal Nanowires

The creation of functional nanomaterials with the controlled properties is emerging as a new area of great technological and scientific interest, in particular, it is a key technology for developing novel high-density data storage devices. Today, no other technology can compete with magnetic carriers in information storage density and access rate. However, usually very small (10–1000 nm3) magnetic nanoparticles shows para- or superparamagnetic properties, with very low blocking temperatures and no coercitivity at normal conditions. One possible solution of this problem is preparation of highly anisotropic nanostructures. From the other hand, the use of purely nanocrystalline systems is limited because of their low stability and tendency to form aggregates. These problems could be solved by encapsulation of nanoparticles to a chemically inert matrix. One of the promising matrices for preparation of highly anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles is mesoporous silica or mesoporous aluminosilicates. Mesoporous silica is an amorphous SiO2 with a highly ordered uniform pore structure (the pore diameter can be controllably varied from 2 to 50 nm). This pore system is a perfect reactor for synthesis of nanocomposites due to the limitation of reaction zone by the pore walls. One could expect that size and shape of nanoparticles incorporated into mesoporous silica to be consistent with the dimensions of the porous framework.