Abstract
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have sparked considerable interest in drug/gene delivery, catalysis, adsorption, separation, sensing, antireflection coatings and bioimaging because of their tunable structural properties. The shape, size and pore structure of MSNs are greatly influenced by the type of additives used, e.g., solvent and pore-templating agent. Here, we studied the influence of cyclodextrin (CD) molecules on the formation of MSNs. The nanoparticles over 100 nm in diameter were synthesized by surfactant-templated, hydrolysis–polycondensation reactions in the presence of pristine CD (β-CD) or hydroxypropyl-functionalized CDs (HP-γ-CD and HP-β-CD). Depending on the formulation conditions, differently shaped MSNs, such as bean-like, spherical, ellipsoid, aggregate and faceted were generated. The morphology and size of MSNs varied with the CD-type used. Generally, spherical particles were obtained with β-CD, while a faceted morphology was observed for the particles synthesized using HP-CDs. The particle size could be tuned by adjusting the amount of CD used; increasing the CD concentration led to larger particles. MSNs synthesized in the presence of β-CD displayed a smaller particle size than those produced with HP-functional CDs. FTIR, TGA and solid-state 13C NMR demonstrated the adsorption of CDs on the particle surfaces. The proposed concept allows for the synthesis of silica nanoparticles with control over particle shape and size by adjusting the concentration of additives in a simple, one-pot reaction system for a wide range of applications.
Highlights
With the availability of several types of surfactants and the increased understanding of sol–gel chemistry, numerous mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with tunable structural properties have been developed [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
The MSNs synthesized in the absence of CD moieties revealed the mixture of spherical and ellipsoid particles with a mean size of 185 nm, suggesting that the addition of β-CD leads to the formation of larger particles (Figure 2a)
This paper demonstrates the effect of CD addition on the formation of silica nanoparticles
Summary
With the availability of several types of surfactants and the increased understanding of sol–gel chemistry, numerous mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with tunable structural properties have been developed [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. This has been done by tuning multiple parameters (e.g., type and concentration of surfactants and solvents used) in the synthesis of MSNs to control the shape, size and pore structure of the particles. By varying the concentrations of additives and CD-type, MSNs in various shapes, such as spherical, aggregate, bean-like and faceted were generated (Figure 1).
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