Effect of process parameters on the polymer mediated synthesis of silica at neutral ph

Abstract

We report herein the synthesis of well-defined silica structures atneutral pH and ambient conditions using poly(allylamine hydrochloride)(PAH), a cationically charged synthetic polymer, as a catalyst/template.Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) was used as the precursor and the synthesisprocess parameters varied include TMOS pre-hydrolysis time(tP), reaction time (tR), buffer, molecular weightof the polymer, TMOS concentration, polymer concentration andperturbation of the reaction mixture. It was found that the TMOSpre-hydrolysis time was an important parameter governing the resultingsilica morphology along with the reaction time and the TMOSconcentration. Characterization of the silica was performed using SEM,FTIR, EDS and XRD. The poly(allylamine hydrochloride), which was thecatalyst/template, was found to be incorporated into the silicaparticles. These findings are of importance for understanding the roleof polypeptides, in nature, and macromolecules, in general, that arecapable of forming similar silica structures.