Extension of size of monodisperse silica nanospheres and their well-ordered assembly

Ryota Watanabe, Toshiyuki Yokoi, Erina Kobayashi, Yuki Otsuka, Atsushi Shimojima, Tatsuya Okubo, Takashi Tatsumi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

105 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A liquid-phase method for preparing uniform-sized silica nanospheres (SNSs) 12nm in size and their three-dimensionally ordered arrangement upon solvent evaporation have recently been pioneered by us. Here we report the successful control of the sphere sizes in the wide range from 14 to 550nm by the seed regrowth method. In this method, the dispersion of SNSs 14nm in size as seeds was prepared in the emulsion system containing Si(OEt)4 (TEOS), water and arginine under weakly basic conditions (pH 9-10). An appropriate portion of this dispersion is added to the solution containing water, ethanol and arginine, and then TEOS is added. The additional TEOS introduced into the regrowth system contributed only to the resumed growth of the seeds, not to the formation of new silica particles. The size of interparticle pores was finely tuned by changing the size of the spheres. The preparation of three-dimensionally ordered porous carbons by using the colloidal array of silica nanospheres as a template is also reported.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Colloid And Interface Science
Volume360
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011 Aug 1
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Basic amino acids
  • Seed regrowth method
  • Silica nanospheres

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Biomaterials
  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

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