Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method is performed to investigate the surfactant-silica cooperative organization effects in the mesoporous silica SBA-15 formation process

and steady shear is introduced to represent stirring in actual experiment.Simulation results show that uniform spherical super-molecular micelles can be assembled by the cooperation of the two precursors in SBA-15 formation

the template copolymer (P123) and the silica source (TEOS).The hydrophobic PPO micelle cores play a decisive role in the uniform mesopore formation process of SBA-15

while the hydrophilic PEO micelle coronas interact with the silica matrix to form the micropores upon calcinations.When steady shear introduced into the simulation system

the P123/TEOS super-molecular assembly no longer form spherical micelles

but form cylindrical micelles with hexagonally array

and finally form the structure of SBA-15.The simulation results proved that the DPD method can exactly describe the surfactant-silica cooperative organization and the SBA-15 mesophase formation process

which is also an effective tool for investigating the formation mechanism of ordered mesoporous silica.