Tailored Synthesis of Core-Shell Mesoporous Silica Particles—Optimization of Dye Sorption Properties

Andrzej Baliś,Szczepan Zapotoczny

doi:10.3390/nano8040230

Abstract

Monodisperse spherical silica particles, with solid cores and mesoporous shells (SCMS), were synthesized at various temperatures using a one-pot method utilizing a cationic surfactant template. The temperature of the synthesis was found to significantly affect the diameters of both the cores (ca. 170–800 nm) and shells (ca. 11–80 nm) of the particles, which can be tailored for specific applications that require a high specific surface area of the nanocarriers (mesoporous shells) and simultaneously their mechanical robustness for, e.g., facile isolation from suspensions (dense cores). The applied method enabled the formation of the relatively thick mesoporous shells at conditions below room temperature. Radially ordered pores with narrow distributions of their sizes in 3–4 nm range were found in the shells. The adsorption ability of the SCMS particles was studied using rhodamine 6G as a model dye. Decolorization of the dye solution in the presence of the SCMS particles was correlated with their structure and specific surface area and reached its maximum for the particles synthesized at 15 °C. The presented strategy may be applied for the fine-tuning of the structure of SCMS particles and the enhancement of their adsorption capabilities.

Highlights

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), especially with ordered mesopores, have attracted increasing interest as carriers in, e.g., biomedical, catalytic, and optical applications, due to their desired properties, such as their high specific surface area, well-defined and tunable pore-sizes, transparency, or biocompatibility [1,2,3,4,5,6]
It should be related to the dependence of critical micelle concentration (CMC) on the temperature
critical micellar concentration (CMC) decreases with increasing temperature, reaching a minimum value and increasing [25]

Summary

Introduction

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), especially with ordered mesopores, have attracted increasing interest as carriers in, e.g., biomedical, catalytic, and optical applications, due to their desired properties, such as their high specific surface area, well-defined and tunable pore-sizes, transparency, or biocompatibility [1,2,3,4,5,6]. MSNs are commonly synthesized using a sol–gel reaction of silica species in a surfactant templating method [11]. MSNs with radially aligned mesopores were later synthesized using a modified Stöber approach [14]. Such ordered mesopores may be formed thanks to the self-organization of the micellar rods into a hexagonal matrix at proper conditions, which serves as a template for the organization of the silica precursors

Methods

Results

Conclusion