Organic/inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica membrane rapidly synthesized by a microwave-assisted method and its application in enzyme adsorption and electrocatalysis.

An organic/inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica membrane (HMSM) composed of mesoporous silica rods in the channels of a polycarbonate (PC) membrane was rapidly synthesized by employing the microwave-assisted method combined with solvent extraction. As-synthesized HMSMs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetry (TG). The results indicated that silica rods with 200 nm diameter and 9 μm length grew in the confined spaces of the PC membrane.