It should be noted that the high-resolution SEM
observation of samples aged at lower temperatures was not possible
without the beam deceleration technique owing to the large
amount of beam damage. The structural order, period and pore size
of SBA-15 increased with aging temperature, and agreed well with
XRD and N2 adsorption/desorption measurements.
The low-angle XRDpatterns andN2 adsorption/desorption isotherms are provided
in the Supporting information. Only bisectional parts of the cylindrical
mesopores such as periodic trenches were observed for the
sample aged at 110 ◦C, which coincides with the results reported
by Che et al. [3]. However, the surface structure of SBA-15 aged at
lower temperature was totally different. Disordered mesopores on
the particle surfaces were observed on the surface of SBA-15 aged
at 35 ◦C. As the aging temperature increased, the disordered
mesopores became larger and a “ladder-like” structure was observed
for the samples aged at 60 and 80 ◦C. We deduced that the disordered
mesopores wereenlarged by the enlargement of the template
micelles during the aging process, and finally the disordered mesopores
disappeared and only the periodic trench remained.