Rational synthesis of hierarchical magnetic mesoporous silica microspheres with tunable mesochannels for enhanced enzyme immobilizationElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional SEM images of Fe3O4 and Fe3O4@nSiO2 microspheres, nitrogen sorption isotherms, FT-IR, XPS, and EDX spectra, enzyme activity, stability and loading capacity data. See DOI: 10.1039/c7cc04070a

Hierarchical magnetic mesoporous silica microspheres (MMSMs) with a core-shell structure have been fabricated through an improved water/oil biphase synthesis strategy. We firstly reported that the mesopore size can be readily tuned from 6.1 to 11.4 nm by the synergistic effect of surfactant concentration and an amphiphilic agent, thus holding a bright future in many possible applications. Mesopore size can be readily tuned by synergistic effects of the surfactant concentration and amphiphilic agents for various sizes of guest loading.