Real space observation of phase separating structure in a sol-gel system

In a sol-gel system accompanied by phase separation, co-continuous macroporous silica has been obtained, and it has been attracting attention as an efficient separation medium in a field of high performance liquid chromatography. The exact formation mechanism of the co-continuous structure, on the other hand, has been still poorly understood due to the difficulty of observation in real space. After the introduction of preferentially distributing marker dye in gel phase and the adjustment of refractive index between gel and solvent phases, time evolution of phase separating structure in a sol-gel system was observed by laser scanning confocal microscope and detailed examination of competitive kinetics between phase separation and sol-gel transition was attempted.