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A general method to synthesize a family of mesoporous silica nanoparticles less than 100 nm and their applications in anti-reflective/fogging coating

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Abstract

Recent advances in strategies for synthesizing mesoporous silica particle (MSN) have enabled the precise control of its morphology, size, and composition which afford the applications in drug delivery and heterogeneous catalysis. Especially for drug delivery, the size of MSNs <100 nm is a prerequisite allowing for hemolysis effect. However, a general method for the synthesis of MSNs with uniform size distribution below 100 nm still remains challenging. Herein, a general method was developed to synthesize a family of aqueous colloidal MSNs with uniform size <100 nm using small organic amines (SOAs) or nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds (NCHCs) as alkaline catalysts in the presence of cationic quaternary ammonium salts as organic templates. The size of MSNs can be easily adjusted within the range from 28 to 100 nm by the cooperative effect of the mixed alkaline catalysts or using different quaternary ammonium surfactants as templates. Also, texture properties of MSNs including pore diameter and surface area were controlled by selecting different kinds of SOAs or NCHCs. Based on the low refractive index of MSNs, these as-prepared MSNs serve as building blocks and afford an anti-reflective/fogging coating on glass slide through a facile dip-coating method.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the financial aid from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21104016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Fine Chemistry and Engineering, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475001, Henan, China

    **ying Li, Bing Shi, Mengmeng Li, Yong Liu, Li Gao & Liqun Mao

  2. Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan

    Watcharop Chaikittisilp

  3. Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50010, USA

    Yujie Wang

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  1. **ying Li
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Correspondence to **ying Li.

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Li, X., Shi, B., Chaikittisilp, W. et al. A general method to synthesize a family of mesoporous silica nanoparticles less than 100 nm and their applications in anti-reflective/fogging coating. J Mater Sci 51, 6192–6206 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-9916-5

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