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Unconscious factors affecting physical characteristics of sol–gel-derived monodispersed silica spheres

  • Invited Paper: Fundamentals of sol–gel and hybrid materials processing
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Abstract

Syntheses of monodisperse silica spheres (MSS) and monodisperse mesoporous silica spheres (MMSS) were studied focusing on the age of starting solutions, the solvent partitioning, and the surfactant dissolution as unconscious process factors. Aging of clear and transparent starting solutions decreased nucleation and increased the size of MSS, while the aging effect was opposite in the case of MMSS. Alcohols were used as co-solvent for alkoxides and water to dilute them. Partitioning ratio of alcohols was also a factor that changes the sphere size. Even when a surfactant is soluble in water and alcohol to readily form a transparent starting solution, the clusters consisting of solute and solvent molecules or their molecular level dissolution states may vary during aging, and thus could be a factor affecting the nucleation of nanoparticles. Aging of a methanolic solution of tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS) containing a surfactant (C16TAC; cetyltrimethylammonium chloride) resulted in unfavorable formation of irregular (non-spherical) particles probably due to the interaction between TMOS and a moisture in the surfactant during aging.

Syntheses of monodisperse silica sphere (MSS) and monodisperse mesoporous silica sphere (MMSS) were studied focusing on the age of starting solutions, solvent partitioning, and surfactant dissolution as unconscious process factors. Aging of clear and transparent starting solutions decrease nucleation and increase the sphere size of MSS, while the aging effect is opposite in the case of MMSS. The decrease in the MMSS size due to aging was the largest when the methanol solvent was used only to dissolve water and surfactant and then reacted with a pure alkoxide free from the solvent (10s/0).

Highlights

  • Aging of starting solutions for synthesis of monodisperse silica spheres (MSS) increased the size of MMS.

  • Aging of starting solutions for synthesis of monodisperse mesoporous silica spheres (MMSS) decreased the size of MMSS.

  • The decrease in the MMSS size due to aging was dependent on the solvent partitioning and surfactant dissolution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was in part supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) Grant Number 17K06025. NE organized this work and wrote the manuscript. YN performed sample preparation and data analysis. MI carried out adsorption measurement. All authors approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Creative Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Ariake College, 150 Higashihagio, Omuta, Fukuoka, 836-8585, Japan

    Naoya Enomoto & Yusaku Nishimura

  2. Center of Advanced Instrumental Analysis, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    Miki Inada

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  1. Naoya Enomoto
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  2. Yusaku Nishimura
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  3. Miki Inada
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Correspondence to Naoya Enomoto.

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Enomoto, N., Nishimura, Y. & Inada, M. Unconscious factors affecting physical characteristics of sol–gel-derived monodispersed silica spheres. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 104, 512–518 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-022-05917-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-022-05917-7

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