Novel mesostructured silicon nitride-based materials were synthesized for the first time by using acetonitrile as the solvent and octadecylamine as the template in the non-oxide sol-gel process. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, SEM, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherm and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Characterization results indicate that these materials are flower-like and leaf-like thin film materials with high surface area and nanoporosity of narrow distribution in pore size. This study also suggests capable self-assembly of some surfactants into association in non-aqueous media, which has potential application to template the synthesis of materials with novelty in structures and morphologies. The formation mechanism of materials was preliminarily discussed.

Key words: non-oxide sol-gel, self-assembly, silicon nitride-based material, morphology