A Single-Crystalline Mesoporous Quartz Superlattice

There has been significant interest in the crystallization of nanostructured silica into α‐quartz because of its physicochemical properties. We demonstrate a single‐crystalline mesoporous quartz superlattice, a silica polymorph with unprecedentedly ordered hierarchical structures on both the several tens of nanometers scale and the atomic one. The mesoporous quartz superlattice consists of periodically arranged α‐quartz nanospheres whose crystalline axes are mostly oriented in an assembly. The superlattice is prepared by thermal crystallization of amorphous silica nanospheres constituting a colloidal crystal. We found that the deposition of a strong flux of Li+ only on the surface of silica nanospheres is effective for crystallization. Doppelt geordnet: Ein mesoporöses, auf Nanometer‐ und Atomebene periodisches Quarz‐Übergitter entsteht durch die Kristallisation der amorphen Siliciumoxid‐Nanokügelchen eines Kolloidkristalls. Die Anordnung der Siliciumoxid‐Nanokügelchen bleibt trotz der Anwendung von Li+‐Ionen erhalten.