Figure 1.

Reference (a–d) and sheared (e–h) silica gel monoliths as well as a schematic representation of the shear-induced alignment process (i–l). (a) and (e) are optical photographs of the resulting gel bodies; (b) and (f) are representative SEM images illustrating the anisotropic alignment of the sheared sample; (c) and (g) are SEM images with increased magnification; and (d) and (h) are representative TEM images showing the high spatial orientation of the mesopores within the struts. The alignment process (i–l) starts with the synthesis of a liquid-crystalline silica/P123 composite alcogel in a syringe (i). During aging, extrusion is started (j), resulting in an alignment of the silica network (k). Afterward, the sheared gel is left for aging, resulting in network formation along the aligned silica struts, but also by formation of novel smaller connections between the struts, leading to an aligned, anisotropic silica network (l).