Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4777-9 ORIGINAL PAPER: NANO-STRUCTURED MATERIALS (PARTICLES, FIBERS, COLLOIDS, COMPOSITES, ETC.) Surfactant-assisted sol–gel synthesis and characterization of hierarchical nanoporous merwinite with controllable drug release Ashkan Bigham 1 ● S. A. Hassanzadeh-Tabrizi 1 ● Adele Khamsehashari 1 ● Akbar Chami 1 Received: 26 May 2018 / Accepted: 1 August 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The aim of this research is to suggest both new and efficient synthesis method for preparation of pure phase nanoporous merwinite ((Ca 3 Mg(SiO 4 ) 2 ), NM) bioceramics and assess their in vitro drug delivery potential. Surfactant-assisted sol–gel method is used to produce NM using cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) as a surfactant agent. The XRD results showed that a single-phase merwinite is obtained after calcination at 850 °C. Both the FESEM and N 2 adsorption desorption results exhibited that the samples have hierarchical porous structure ranging from 25 nm to 3.5 μm. Potential application of the synthesized calcium-magnesium-silicate samples as a drug delivery agent is studied by estimating their ibuprofen release properties up to 180 h. This study revealed that NM is produced by surfactant-assisted sol–gel method at lower calcination temperature compared to other studies and the synthesized samples can be used as a promising local drug delivery system. Graphical Abstract Pure phase nanoporous merwinite was synthesized via surfactant-assisted sol-gel method. Potential application of the synthesized calcium-magnesium-silicate samples as a drug delivery agent was studied. This study revealed that merwinite is produced at lower calcination temperature compared to other studies and the synthesized samples can be used as a promising local drug delivery system. * S. A. Hassanzadeh-Tabrizi tabrizi1980@gmail.com hassanzadeh@pmt.iaun.ac.ir 1 Advanced Materials Research Center, Department of Materials Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: