Plugged hexagonal templated silica: a unique micro- and mesoporous composite material with internal silica nanocapsulesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fig. S1: X-ray diffractogram of a PHTS material. Fig. S2: TEM images of SBA-15 and PHTS-2. Fig. S3: hydrothermal stabilities. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b2/b201424f/

We describe in this paper the development of plugged hexagonal templated silicas (PHTS) which are hexagonally ordered materials, with internal microporous silica nanocapsules; they have a combined micro- and mesoporosity and a tuneable amount of both open and encapsulated mesopores and are much more stable than other tested micellar templated structures.