Abstract
Silica nanomaterials have found prevailing use in biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility and non-toxicity. The use of a structure-directing agent in silica sol-gel synthesis enables us to direct the formation of silica nanostructures into forms that are otherwise difficult to obtain, allowing the exertion of a fine degree of control over the morphology, dimensions and architecture of the nanostructures. Single-tailed surfactants have been used extensively as soft templates to produce mesoporous silica materials. This study investigates the use of a double-tailed surfactant, a didodecyldimethylammonium phosphate surfactant (DDAH2PO4) as a structure-directing agent in the sol-gel synthesis of silica at ambient conditions in aqueous solution. The effects of varying reaction parameters such as surfactant concentration and solution temperature on resulting silica morphology are presented. Morphological transitions from nanobeads to hexagonal plates and toroidal concave particles are observed with increasing surfactant concentrations, as well as a gradual loss in templating ability at elevated solution temperatures (up to 25 °C). This allows us to access different morphologies and dimensions of nanostructures within the same synthesis scheme templated with DDAH2PO4.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Slowing, I. I., Vivero-Escoto, J. L., Wu, C.-W., & Lin, V. S.-Y. (2008). Mesoporous silica nanoparticles as controlled release drug delivery and gene transfection carriers. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 60, 1278–1288.
Ow, H., Larson, D. R., Srivastava, M., Baird, B. A., Webb, W. W., & Wiesner, U. (2005). Bright and stable core-shell fluorescent silica nanoparticles. Nano Letters, 5, 113–117.
Liberman, A., Mendez, N., Trogler, W. C., & Kummel, A. C. (2014). Synthesis and surface functionalization of silica nanoparticles for nanomedicine. Surface Science Reports, 69, 132–158.
Popplewell, J., King, S., Day, J., Ackrill, P., Fifield, L., Cresswell, R., Di Tada, M., & Liu, K. (1998). Kinetics of uptake and elimination of silicic acid by a human subject: A novel application of 32Si and accelerator mass spectrometry. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 69, 177–180.
Xu, Z. P., Zeng, Q. H., Lu, G. Q., & Yu, A. B. (2006). Inorganic nanoparticles as carriers for efficient cellular delivery. Chemical Engineering Science, 61, 1027–1040.
Stöber, W., Fink, A., & Bohn, E. (1968). Controlled growth of monodisperse silica spheres in the micron size range. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 26, 62–69.
Yang, J., Lind, J. U., & Trogler, W. C. (2008). Synthesis of hollow silica and titania nanospheres. Chemistry of Materials, 20, 2875–2877.
Pohaku Mitchell, K. K., Liberman, A., Kummel, A. C., & Trogler, W. C. (2012). Iron(III)-doped, silica nanoshells: A biodegradeable form of silica Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134, 13997–14003.
Liu, Y., Goebl, J., & Yin, Y. (2013). Templated synthesis of nanostructured materials. Chemical Society Reviews, 42, 2610–2653.
Beck, J. S., Vartuli, J. C., Roth, W. J., Leonowicz, M. E., Kresge, C. T., Schmitt, K. D., … & Higgins, J. (1992). A new family of mesoporous molecular sieves prepared with liquid crystal templates. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 114(27), 10834–10843.
Ortac, I., Simberg, D., Yeh, Y.-S., Yang, J., Messmer, B., Trogler, W. C., Tsein, R. Y., & Esener, S. (2014). Dual-porosity hollow nanoparticles for the immunoprotection and delivery of nonhuman enzymes. Nano Letters, 14, 3023–3032.
Trogler, W. C., Esener, S. C., Messmer, D., Lind, J. U., Mitchell, K. K., & Yang, J. (2013, April). Hollow silica nanospheres and methods of making same. US Patent 20130230570A1.
Wan, Y., & Zhao, D. (2007). On the controllable soft-templating approach to mesoporous silicates. Chemical Reviews, 107, 2821–2860.
Tomczak, M. M., Glawe, D. D., Drummy, L. F., Lawrence, C. G., Stone, M. O., Perry, C. C., Pochan, D. J., Deming, T. J., & Naik, R. R. (2005). Polypeptide-templated synthesis of hexagonal silica platelets. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127, 12577–12582.
Bellomo, E. G., & Deming, T. J. (2006). Monoliths of aligned silica-polypeptide hexagonal platelets. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128, 2276–2279.
Israelachvili, J. N., Mitchell, D. J., & Ninham, B. W. (1976). Theory of self-assembly of hydrocarbon amphiphiles into micelles and bilayers. Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions 2: Molecular and Chemical Physics, 72, 1525–1568.
Kang, C., & Khan, A. (1993). Self-assembly of systems of didodecyldimethylammonium surfactants: Binary and ternary phase equilibria and phase structures with sulphate, hydroxide, acetate and chloride counterions. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 156, 218–228.
Thalberg, K., Lindman, B., & Karlstroem, G. (1991). Phase behavior of a system of cationic surfactant and anionic polyelectrolyte: The effect of salt. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 95, 6004–6011.
Cölfen, H., Page, M. G., Dubois, M., & Zemb, T. (2007). Mineralization in complex fluids. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 303, 46–54.
Kresge, C., Leonowicz, M., Roth, W. J., Vartuli, J., & Beck, J. (1992). Ordered mesoporous molecular sieves synthesized by a liquid-crystal template mechanism. Nature, 359, 710.
Warr, G. G., Sen, R., Evans, D. F., & Trend, J. E. (1988). Microemulsion formation and phase behavior of dialkyldimethylammonium bromide surfactants. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 92, 774–783.
Liu, C. K., & Warr, G. G. (2014). Self-assembly of didodecyldimethylammonium surfactants modulated by multivalent, hydrolyzable counterions. Langmuir, 31, 2936–2945.
Monnier, A., Schuth, F., Huo, Q., Kumar, D., Margolese, D., Maxwell, R., Stucky, G., Krishnamurty, M., Petroff, P., Firouzi, A., Janicke, M., & Chmelka, B. F. (1993). Cooperative formation of inorganic-organic interfaces in the synthesis of silicate mesostructures. Science, 261, 1299.
Yong, G., Xu, W., & Liu, C. (2017, July). Hexagonal silica platelets and methods of synthesis thereof., WO Patent App. PCT/SG2017/050,025.
Che, S., Li, H., Lim, S., Sakamoto, Y., Terasaki, O., & Tatsumi, T. (2005). Synthesis mechanism of cationic surfactant templaitng mesoporous silica under an acidic synthesis process. Chemistry of Materials, 17, 4103–4113.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR for providing the resources to conduct this study and Ms. Zhang Nan for collecting the titration data used in Fig. 2. W.W.Z. Yeo is grateful to Victoria Junior College and Mr. Wong Shiongwei for advice, support and guidance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
1 Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Yeo, W.W.Z., Lim, S.H., Liu, C.K., Yong, G. (2019). Building Nanostructured Porous Silica Materials Directed by Surfactants. In: Guo, H., Ren, H., Bandla, A. (eds) IRC-SET 2018. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9828-6_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9828-6_25
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-32-9827-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-32-9828-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)