Synthesis and characterization of ordered mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable physical properties by varying molar composition of reagents

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) with tunable physical and surface properties would find application in various biotechnological and biomedical fields. In this study, a series of MSN with varied physical properties were synthesized via liquid crystal templating (LCT) mechanism by varying the molar concentrations of the reagents. Characterization of the prepared materials was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The particle sizes, Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore sizes, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas and BJH total pore volume were tuned between 50 to 900 nm, 2.4 to 4.4 nm, 589 to 1163 m2g-1 and 0.61 to 0.83 cm3g-1, respectively. The effects of reagents concentrations in the variation of the properties were discussed. The study demonstrated the versatility of the liquid-based synthesis method in the preparation of MSN with different physical properties. © 2011 Academic Journals.