Polymeric Liquid Templating of Hierarchical Porous Films by Nanofibrillar Alginic Acid Assemblies

Hierarchical phases of the biomaterials can be used as template to transfer their intricate organization into biomimic inorganic solids. Herein, hierarchical mesoporous silica films with aligned pores have been templated by nanofibrillar alginic acid. An aqueous suspension of the alginic acid nanofibers was prepared by treating the brown seaweeds with sodium carbonate solution and subsequent precipitation in dilute hydrochloric acid. The alginic acid nanofibers of the organize into a hierarchical aligned phase in an acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer that was used to template silica-alginic acid composite films by evaporation induced self-assembly of alkoxysilane with nanofibrillar alginic acid. Calcination of the alginic acid template afforded hierarchical mesoporous silica glasses. Carbonization of the silica-alginic acid composites and subsequent etching the silica recovered mesoporous carbon supercapacitors.