Size-controlled syntheses of nanoporous silica spherical particles through a microfluidic approach

Monodispersed spherical particles of silica/surfactant hybrid with the particle size of 200-400 nm were successfully synthesized by a microfluidic reaction for nucleation and subsequent growth process under ambient condition and were transformed into nanoporous spherical particles with uniform pore size of ca. 2 nm and BET surface area of 500-1000 m² g^-1. Compared to the results obtained by conventional batch method using identical starting solution, the products obtained utilizing microfluidic syntheses showed narrower particle size distribution as a result of separating nucleation and growth processes.