Approach to achieve controlled particle size synthesis of non-polar functionalised siloxane particles using a one-pot synthesis

Rowan McDonough; Daniel Mangos; Chris Hassam; Jonathan Campbell; David A. Lewis

doi:10.1071/CH23128

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 76(10)

Approach to achieve controlled particle size synthesis of non-polar functionalised siloxane particles using a one-pot synthesis

Rowan McDonough

^A , Daniel Mangos ^A , Chris Hassam

^A , Jonathan Campbell

^A and David A. Lewis

^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5041, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: david.lewis@flinders.edu.au

Handling Editor: Curt Wentrup

Australian Journal of Chemistry 76(10) 719-729 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH23128
Submitted: 30 June 2023 Accepted: 26 September 2023 Published: 20 October 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The homogeneous addition of functional silanes dissolved in a co-solvent such as ethanol has been shown to change particle growth mechanisms as well as control over particle size and dispersity, especially for non-polar silanes. Highly monodisperse size-controlled silica particles from 50 to over 1000 nm bearing thiol, vinyl, phenyl, propyl, cyanopropyl and chloropropyl R group functionality were synthesised directly from the corresponding single organosilane source. Observing particle growth over time revealed that it proceeded by a conventional Stöber process, where silane monomers and oligomers add to nucleation sites, resulting in particle growth. Scale-up of the homogeneous mixing approach produced gram quantities of particles without affecting size, size dispersion or functionality under good mixing. The presence and functionality of the surface R groups were confirmed by a simple second addition of reactive molecules to the particle synthesis liquor, resulting in theoretical maximum attachment densities.

Keywords: click, functionalisation, homogeneous, interfacial, monodisperse, nanoparticle, non-polar siloxane, one-pot, organosilane, size control, Stöber process.

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