Mono-dispersed silica particles using organo-silane:The effect of hydrolysis temperature on particle formation

Abstract

The successful one-step preparation method of monodisperse hybrid silica particles was studied using organosilane chemicals in aqueous solution. In general, almost of the hybrid materials were made by a complex method where organic materials were coated on the surface of silica substrates via chemical reaction. To prevent separation of the TEOS/water solution, a large mount of alcohol has been used as a reaction medium to dissolve TEOS in water. However, our method for the synthesis of hybrid silica particles is very simple and useful because (1) hybrid silica particles that have various carbon chains (MTMS-Methyl trimethoxysilane, ETMS-Ethyl trimethoxysilane, IBTMS-Isobutyl trimethxosilane, VTMS-Vinyl trimethoxysilane, MPTMS-3Mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane) were synthesized without any treatment to coat the surface and (2) our remodeled sol-gel process using organosilane monomers does not need co-solvents such as alcohols. In our experiments, it is thought that the hydrolysis temperature plays an important role on the self-hydrolysis of organosilane monomers and the formation of monodisperse hybrid particles, and the condensation temperature influences their size. Detailed characterization of the hybrid particles by field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) was performed to elucidate the morphologies and properties of the hybrid silica particles.