Positioning growth of scalable silica nanorods on the interior and exterior surfaces of porous composites

Abstract

A novel yet straightforward one-pot synthesis technique was developed to grow silica nanorods on the interior and exterior surfaces of a porous, inorganic scaffold. Growth of the rods on the surface, versus in the bulk, was achieved by functionalizing the surface with chlorosilane molecules, which allowed the emulsion droplets in which the nanorods grow to anchor to the surface. Rods of 100-200 nm diameter and up to 2 mm in length could be grown uniformly over the surface with a typical surface density of 3 rods per mm 2 , resulting in an order-of-magnitude increase in the specific surface area (area per mass) of the porous material. It was also shown that the properties of the rods (e.g., size, surface density, shape) could be controlled by changing either the composition of the substrate material or the concentrations of key components in the reacting mixture. Furthermore, by selectively controlling the spatial location of the chlorosilane surface groups, the rods could be grown in specific locations inside the porous material.

Finite‐Sized One‐Dimensional Silica Microstructures (Rods): Synthesis, Assembly, and Applications

“…The longer the rods were, the better the flexural strength was. Rod growth on the interior and exterior surfaces of kaolinite–silica porous composites has also been achieved . Control of reaction parameters achieves control of the size, shape, and surface density of the rods.…”

“…Following the same strategy, silica rods on gold cubes and smooth surfaces have been grown, which led to sea‐urchin‐type structures . The rods were also grown in and outside of porous composites …”

A Library of Multipurpose Supramolecular Supergelators: Fabrication of Structured Silica, Porous Plastics, and Fluorescent Gels

“…As the thickness of the gel fibers can be tuned by changingt he concentration of the gelator,t his methodology may be useful to make porousp olystyrenes with tunable pore diameters. Silica microstructures are of great interestf or variousa pplications, such as hydrophobic coating, [20] composite materials, [21] light scatterers in solar cells, [22] biomedical fields, [23] separation, [24] and so on. [25] Shinkai et al used organogels derived from cholesterol as templates for the polymerization of TEOS to produce variousn anostructured silica architectures, including ribbons, helices, rods, and tubes.…”

Preparation of a novel KCC-1/nylon 6 nanocomposite via electrospinning technique

“…MSPs can be synthesized using a template (surfactants) and silica precursors (tetraethyl ortosilicate, TEOS and tetramethyl ortosilicate, TMOS). Depending on the synthesis conditions, (e.g., type of surfactant, ionic strength, pH, additives, temperature, and reaction time) different porous structures and morphologies could be obtained such as MCM-X, MSU-X, and SBA families (Giraldo et al 2007;Huang et al 2011;Li et al 2015;Showkat et al 2007;Zhang et al 2007). The silica/polymer nanocomposites have been prepared using electrospinning method because the silica part can improve the toughness, durability, and permeability of polymeric nanofibers (Ji et al 2008;Shi et al 2011).…”