Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a three dimensionally ordered close-packing structure (3DOc-p MSNs)
were confined synthesis through steam-assisted crystallization (SAC). With a perfect replication from the
three dimensionally ordered mesoporous carbon template, the obtained 3DOc-p MSNs presented a unique assembly
structure of colloidal crystals composed of uniform mesoporous silica spherical particles with a controllable
particle size ranged from 10 to 160 nm and various mesopore morphologies of hollow, multicellar,
disordered wormlike, and ordered structures with the increasing of the confined space provided by the carbon
template. Moreover, sonication induced fragmentation of 10, 20, and 40 nm 3DOc-p MSNs resulted in the clear
suspensions of highly monodispersed mesoporous silica nanoparticles.