The advantages of existing ordered mesoporous materials have not yet been fully realized, due to their limited accessibility of in-pore surface and long mass-diffusion length. A general, controllable, and scalable synthesis of a family of two-dimensional (2D) single-layer ordered mesoporous materials (SOMMs) with completely exposed mesopore channels, significantly improved mass diffusion, and diverse framework composition is reported here. The SOMMs are synthesized via a surface-limited cooperative assembly (SLCA) on water-removable substrates of inorganic salts (e.g., NaCl), combined with vacuum filtration. As a proof of concept, the obtained CeO₂-based SOMMs show superior catalytic performance in CO oxidation with high conversion efficiency, ≈33 times higher than that of conventional bulk mesoporous CeO₂. This SLCA is a promising approach for developing next generation porous materials for various applications.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201906653

Figure . Single-layer ordered mesoporous materials. (A) Schematic illustration of the fabrication process of SOMMs. TEM images of single-layer ordered mesoporous materials of different compositions (B) m-polymer (phenolic formaldehyde resin), (C) m-carbon, (D) m-SiO₂, (E) m-TiO₂, (F) m-ZrO₂, (G) m-Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂, (H) m-Al₂O₃ synthesized by using PEO-b-PS as a structure-directing agent (SDA), respectively, and (I) m-ZrTiO₄ synthesized by using PS10000-b-P4VP2000 as an SDA. (J) Schematic illustration of the interactions between block copolymers and NaCl salt crystals' surface.