Ionic transport across tailored nanoporous anodic alumina membranes

Monodispersed silica particles with bimodal size distribution were successfully prepared through adding an ethanol (EtOH) solution containing tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) dropwise into an ammonia EtOH solution at a constant low rate. The effects of the reaction parameters such as ammonia/ethanol ratio, feeding rate of TEOS solution, reaction temperature, and time on the size and size distribution of the as-obtained particles were investigated. Based on these phenomena, a modified LaMer model of nucleation and growth mechanism was proposed to reasonably explain the formation of the as-obtained silica particles with bimodal size distribution. The as-prepared monodispersed silica particles with bimodal size distribution can be directly fabricated into binary colloidal crystals with small particles surrounding large particles by evaporation-induced cooperative self-assembly. This suggests that the method reported here provides a straightforward and effective route to the in situ fabrication of novel binary colloidal crystals and their replicated patterns in one reaction system.     

SiO2胶体颗粒的三维有序自组装

由SiO2胶体颗粒的三维有序自组装可以得到面心立方三维结构,它具有折射率周期性变化的特点。它的制备涉及胶体化学、材料科学等学科的前沿领域。其自组装方法包括胶体颗粒的沉降自组装、胶体颗粒在物体限制下的自组装、胶体颗粒的连续对流自组装和利用胶体颗粒表面电性质的自组装。本文对这些组装方法进行了介绍。     

Rapid synthesis of highly ordered Si-MCM-41

A very short-time synthesis of highly ordered MCM-41 molecular sieve was formulated by using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template and silica gel from SiliCycle as the silica source. The physical properties of MCM-41 samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen physisorption, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The MCM-41 sample prepared in this study exhibited well defined long-range order and good hydrothermal stability. It was demonstrated that reducing the time of self-assembly step to 2 h during the synthesis had no unfavorable effect on the quality of MCM-41 materials.     

环糊精与表面活性剂主客体作用诱导的金纳米棒可控自组装

The self-assembly of colloidal nanocrystals has emerged as a powerful strategy for the bottom-up fabrication of functional materials and nanodevices. Recently, the self-assembly of gold nanorods (GNRs) has attracted significant attention because of their unique plasmonic properties, but the realization of their adjustable self-assembly of GNRs through facile and effective approaches remains challenging. In this work, the controllable self-assembly of GNRs in aqueous solution was realized through the host-guest interactions of cyclodextrins (CDs) and the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) molecules adsorbed on the surface of the GNRs. The self-assembly of GNRs was readily achieved by the addition of aqueous α-CD solutions with varied concentrations into aqueous dispersions of CTAB-stabilized GNRs. At a relatively low α-CD concentration, slow aggregation of the GNRs occurred, resulting in their side-by-side assembly. This was revealed by the blue shift of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band in the absorption spectra and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. On the other hand, when a higher concentration of α-CD was added, fast aggregation of the GNRs occurred, resulting in their end-to-end assembly. This was revealed by the red shift in the LSPR band together with the TEM observations. If β-CD was employed instead of α-CD, the self-assembly of GNRs could also be induced, although a relatively higher concentration of β-CD was required to achieve the extent of aggregation similar to that induced by α-CD, indicating that the supramolecular host–guest interaction between CDs and the surfactant CTAB was crucial to the directed self-assembly of GNRs. Furthermore, the α-CD-induced assembly was inhibited on addition of excess CTAB, confirming that the supramolecular interaction of α-CD and CTAB played a key role in directing the self-assembly of the GNRs. Based on these experimental results, a possible mechanism for the α-CD-induced self-assembly of GNRs was proposed as follows: at a lower α-CD concentration, the gradual formation of the host-guest inclusion complex α-CD/CTAB led to the partial replacement of the highly charged CTAB bilayers adsorbed on the GNRs by the less charged complex, which resulted in a slow side-by-side assembly of the GNRs; at a higher α-CD concentration, the CTAB bilayers were quickly replaced by the α-CD/CTAB complex, and the CTAB molecules adsorbed at both ends of the GNRs were almost completely replaced, resulting in a fast end-to-end assembly of the GNRs. Additionally, on the basis of the hydrolysis of α-cyclodextrin catalyzed by α-amylase, the self-assembly of GNRs directed by the host-guest interaction could be used to realize the feasible detection of α-amylase in solutions. This self-assembly strategy mediated by the host-guest interaction may be extendable to other colloidal systems involving surfactants adsorbed on the surface of nanoparticles, and may open new avenues for the controllable self-assembly of non-spherical nanoparticles.     

Peering into the self-assembly of surfactant templated thin-film silica mesophases

It is now recognized that self-assembly is a powerful synthetic approach to the fabrication of nanostructures with feature sizes smaller than achievable with state of the art lithography and with a complexity approaching that of biological systems. For example, recent research has shown that silica/surfactant self-assembly combined with evaporation (so-called evaporation induced self-assembly EISA) can direct the formation of porous and composite thin-film mesostructures characterized by precise periodic arrangements of inorganic and organic constituents on the 1-50-nm scale. Despite the potential utility of these films for a diverse range of applications such as sensors, membranes, catalysts, waveguides, lasers, nano-fluidic systems, and low dielectric constant (so-called low k) insulators, the mechanism of EISA is not yet completely understood. Here, using time-resolved grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) combined with gravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy, we structurally and compositionally characterize in situ the evaporation induced self-assembly of a homogeneous silica/surfactant/solvent solution into a highly ordered surfactant-templated mesostructure. Using CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) as the structure-directing surfactant, a two-dimensional (2-D) hexagonal thin-film mesophase (p6mm) with cylinder axes oriented parallel to the substrate surface forms from an incipient lamellar mesophase through a correlated micellar intermediate. Comparison with the corresponding CTAB/water/alcohol system (prepared without silica) shows that, for acidic conditions in which the siloxane condensation rate is minimized, the hydrophilic and nonvolatile silicic acid components replace water maintaining a fluidlike state that avoids kinetic barriers to self-assembly.     

二氧化硅胶体晶体组装形貌研究

用原子力显微镜表征了二氧化硅胶体晶体的组装,探讨了二氧化硅微球用自然沉降法、抽滤法、溶剂挥发法组装时的组装行为,同时讨论了不同颗粒表面电位、不同溶剂介质及不同温度对其组装结果的影响。结果表明,颗粒表面电位是影响二氧化硅胶体晶体有序组装的重要因素之一。文中总结了最优的介质组成和温度条件,指出溶剂挥发法是较优的二氧化硅胶体晶体组装方法,其方法操作简单、周期短、得到的胶态晶体质量高,能在较大面积内高度有序。     

二氧化硅胶体晶模板技术制备间规聚苯乙烯有序孔材料

结晶高分子在受限空间中的聚合行为及聚集态均与本体的有着显著的差异 ,因而呈现不同的性能[1] .受限空间是指介观有序的分子筛 .间规聚苯乙烯具有熔点高、结晶速度快、弹性模量高、绝缘及抗溶剂性能优良等特点 ,具有广阔的应用前景 .自从 Ishihara等 [2～ 5]首次报道苯乙烯间规聚合以来 ,国内外对间规聚苯乙烯的均聚和共聚反应进行了大量研究 .苯乙烯在二氧化硅胶体晶中通过自由基聚合得到三维有序聚苯乙烯孔材料 ,实验表明 ,即使在亚微米的受限空间内 ,聚苯乙烯的生成和性质也会发生明显变化 [6] .本文以有序二氧化硅胶体晶为模板 ,在其…     

Preferential growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on silica spheres by chemical vapor deposition

The preferential growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on silica spheres with various diameters was realized for the first time by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of methane. SWNTs tend to wrap the silica spheres to form a new superstructure of uniform SWNT nanoclaws when the diameters of the silica spheres are larger than 400 nm. The SWNTs obtained on silica spheres have highly graphitic tubular walls as characterized by Raman spectroscopy and HRTEM. This is a new method to obtain tunable uniform elastic deformation of SWNTs, which may act as the model for the study about the effect of delocalized bending on the properties of SWNTs. In addition, the combination of SWNTs with monodispersed silica spheres could conveniently integrate SWNTs into photonic crystals.     

Dual latex/surfactant templating of hollow spherical silica particles with ordered mesoporous shells

Hollow spherical silica particles with hexagonally ordered mesoporous shells are synthesized with the dual use of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and unmodified polystyrene latex microspheres as templates in concentrated aqueous ammonia. In most of the hollow mesoporous particles, cylindrical pores run parallel to the hollow core due to interactions of CTAB/silica aggregates with the latices. Effects on the product structure of the CTAB:latex ratio, the amount of aqueous ammonia, and the latex size are studied. Hollow particles with hexagonally patterned mesoporous shells are obtained at moderate CTAB:latex ratios. Too little CTAB causes silica shell growth without surfactant templating, and too much induces nucleation of new mesoporous silica particles without latex cores. The concentration of ammonia must be large to induce co-assembly of CTAB, silica, and latex into dispersed particles. The results are consistent with the formation of particles by addition of CTAB/silica aggregates to the surface of latex microspheres. When the size and number density of the latex microspheres are changed, the size of the hollow core and the shell thickness can be controlled. However, if the microspheres are too small (50 nm in this case), agglomerated particles with many hollow voids are obtained, most likely due to colloidal instability.     

Surface self-assembly of N-fluorenyl-9-methoxycarbonyl diphenylalanine on silica wafer

N-Fluorenyl-9-methoxycarbonyl diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF-OH) was chemically immobilized to the surface of silica wafer as the "seed". When immersing this peptide attached silica wafer into the dipeptide aqueous solution, the occurrence of a pH triggered surface self-assembly resulted in the formation of peptide nanorods on the surface of silica wafer. This surface self-assembly exhibited a dependence on the concentration of the dipeptide aqueous solution. It was proposed that the self-assembly of this dipeptide on the surface of silica wafer was similar to that in aqueous solution. In comparison with the conventional physical adsorption on the substrates, the chemically attached self-assembled nanorods exhibited much improved adsorption capacity on the substrate surface.     

Monoliths of aligned silica-polypeptide hexagonal platelets

Water soluble alpha-helical polypeptides were used to prepare silica coated hexagonal single crystal platelets in concentrated solutions. To our knowledge, there is no other instance where polymer single crystals, typically formed under high dilution, can be grown in a bulk material. This unprecedented self-assembly process relies on complex cooperative interactions where silica condensation mediates the growth of polypeptide crystals, which in turn template silica overgrowth. The helices were also used to align samples giving monoliths composed of highly oriented layers of platelets. Overall, this procedure allows preparation of composites with good structural order and complexity via a simple biomimetic process.     

Enhancement in thermal stability and resistance to denaturants of lipase encapsulated in mesoporous silica with alkyltrimethylammonium (CTAB)

We assembled a highly durable conjugate with both a high-density accumulation and a regular array of lipase, by encapsulating it in mesoporous silica (FSM) with alkyltrimethylammonium (CTAB) chains on the surface. The activity for hydrolyzing esters of the lipase immobilized in mesoporous silica was linearly related to the concentration of lipase, whereas that of non-immobilized lipase showed saturation due to self-aggregation at a high concentration. The lipase conjugate also had increased resistance to heating when stayed in the silica coupling with CTAB. In addition, encapsulating the enzyme with FSM coupled CTAB caused the lipase to remain stable even in the presence of urea and trypsin, suggesting that the encapsulation prevented dissociation and denaturing. This conjugate had much higher activity and much higher stability for hydrolyzing esters when compared to the native lipase. These results show that FSM provides suitable support for the immobilization and dispersion of proteins in mesopores with disintegration of the aggregates.     

Facile synthesis of monodisperse microspheres and gigantic hollow shells of mesoporous silica in mixed water-ethanol solvents

Mesoporous silica materials with a variety of morphologies, such as monodisperse microspheres, gigantic hollow structures comprising a thin shell with a hole, and gigantic hollow structures consisting of an outer thin shell and an inner layer composed of many small spheres, have been readily synthesized in mixed water-ethanol solvents at room temperature using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template. The obtained mesoporous silica generally shows a disordered mesostructure with typical average pore sizes ranging from 3.1 to 3.8 nm. The effects of the water-to-ethanol volume ratio (r), the volume content of tetraethyl orthosilicate TEOS (x), and the CTAB concentration in the solution on the final morphology of the mesoporous silica products have been investigated. The growth process of gigantic hollow shells of mesoporous silica through templating emulsion droplets of TEOS in mixed water-ethanol solution has been monitored directly with optical microscopy. Generally, the morphology of mesoporous silica can be regulated from microspheres through gigantic hollow structures composed of small spheres to gigantic hollow structures with a thin shell by increasing the water-to-ethanol volume ratio, increasing the TEOS volume content, or decreasing the CTAB concentration. A plausible mechanism for the morphological regulation of mesoporous silica by adjusting various experimental parameters has been put forward by considering the existing state of the unhydrolyzed and partially hydrolyzed TEOS in the synthesis system.     

以混合表面活性剂为模板可控合成MCM-48和MCM-41分子筛

利用阳离子和三嵌段共聚物混合表面活性剂为模板,在水热条件、碱性介质中可控合成出MCM-48和MCM-41分子筛。在固定P123(聚氧乙烯-聚氧丙烯-聚氧乙烯三嵌段共聚物):TEOS(正硅酸乙酯)(物质的量的比)为0.01875的体系中,调节CTAB(十六烷基三甲基溴化铵)∶TEOS(正硅酸乙酯)物质的量比值m,当m在0.12~0.13范围合成出MCM-48分子筛;当m在0.04~0.08范围合成出MCM-41分子筛。通过XRD,TEM,N2物理吸附,IR等方法进行了表征。结果表明:聚氧乙烯-聚氧丙烯-聚氧乙烯三嵌段共聚物(P123)的加入可以更大程度地降低合成介孔材料所需阳离子表面活性剂的用量;可控合成的介孔材料具有高比表面积、高度有序的孔道结构、较集中的孔径分布。     

Facile fabrication of hollow mesoporous silica nanospheres for superhydrophilic and visible/near-IR antireflection coatings

A series of hierarchically mesostructured silica nanoparticles (MSNs) less than 100 nm in size were fabricated by means of a one-step synthesis using dodecanethiol (C(12)-SH) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the dual template, and trimethylbenzene (TMB) as the swelling agent. Silica nanoparticles with varied morphologies and structures, including mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable pore size, mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a thin solid shell, hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable cavity size, and hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a thin solid shell, were obtained by regulating the TMB/CTAB molar ratio and the stirring rate with the assistance of C(12)-SH. Silica particulate coatings were successfully fabricated by using MSNs with varied morphologies and structures as building block through layer-by-layer dip-coating on glass substrates. The thickness and roughness of the silica particulate coatings could be tailored by regulating the deposition cycles of nanoparticles. The silica particulate coatings composed of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a thin shell (S2) increased the maximum transmittance of slide glass from 90 to 96%, whereas they reduced its minimum reflection from 8 to 2% at the optimized wavelength region that could be adjusted from visible to near-IR with a growing number of deposition cycles. The coatings also exhibited excellent superhydrophilic and antifogging properties. These mesostructured silica nanoparticles are also expected to serve as ideal scaffolds for biological, medical, and catalytic applications.     

Nanoscale wettability of self-assembled monolayers investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy

We report on a novel technique to nucleate nanometer-sized droplets on a solid substrate and to image them with minimal perturbation by noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM). The drop size can be accurately controlled, thus permitting hysteresis measurements. We have studied the nanoscale wettability of several methyl-terminated substrates prepared by the self-assembly of organic molecules. These substrates are alkyltrichlorosilanes on silica, alkylthiols on gold, alkyl chains on hydrogen-terminated silicon, and crystalline hexatriacontane chains on silica. For each of these systems, we report a deviation of the wetting contact angle from the macroscopic value, and we discuss this effect in term of mesoscale surface heterogeneity and long-range solid-liquid interactions.     

DNA-network-templated self-assembly of silver nanoparticles and their application in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

A large-scale lambda-DNA network on a mica surface was successfully fabricated with a simple method. Silver nanoparticles capped with the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were self-assembled onto a two-dimensional DNA network template by electrostatic interaction and formed nanoporous silver films, which can be used as active surface-enhanced raman scattering (SERS) substrates. Two probe molecules, Rhodamine 6G (R6G) and 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP), were studied on these substrates with very low concentrations, and great enhancement factors for R6G (0.21 x 10(10)-4.09 x 10(11)) and 4-ATP (approximately 1.70 x 10(5)) were observed. It was found that the enhancement ability was affected by the DNA concentration and the electrostatic absorption time of the CTAB-stabilized silver nanoparticles on the DNA strands. These SERS substrates formed by the self-assembly of silver nanoparticles on DNA network also show good stability and reproducibility in our experiments.     

Preparation of Helical Mesoporous Ethenylene-silica Nanofibers with Lamellar Mesopores on Their Surface

The morphologies and pore architectures of mesoporous ethenylene‐silica were controlled using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as template and (S)‐β‐citronellol as a co‐structure‐directing agent under basic conditions. When the (S)‐β‐citronellol/CTAB molar ratios are in the range of 0.75–2.0, helical nanofibers were obtained. With increasing the (S)‐β‐citronellol/CTAB molar ratio, the lengths of the nanofibers increases. Lamellar mesopores were identified on the surfaces of the nanofibers prepared in the (S)‐β‐citronellol/CTAB molar ratio range of 1.5–2.0. At the (S)‐β‐citronellol/CTAB molar ratio of 2.5:1, nanoparticles with nanoflakes on the surfaces were obtained. The field emission scanning electron microscopy images taken after different reaction times indicated that the helical pitches of the nanofibers decreased with increasing the reaction time. Helical 1,4‐phenylene‐silica and methylene‐silica nanofibers were also prepared. The results indicated that the morphologies and pore architectures of the obtained organic‐inorganic hybrid silicas are also sensitive to the hybrid silica precursors. Helical ethenylene‐silica nanofibers with lamellar mesopores on their surfaces can be also prepared using the mixtures of CTAB and racemic citronellol within a narrower citronellol/CTAB molar ratio range.     

Interfacial properties of cetyltrimethylammonium-coated SiO(2) nanoparticles in aqueous media as studied by using different indicator dyes

In this paper, we compare the properties of SiO(2)/water interface modified by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) with those of CTAB spherical micelles. The suspension of uniform silica nanoparticles coated with CTAB adlayer was investigated by using a set of acid-base indicators. The study of the colloidal system has been provided using electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering methods; the diameter of the initial SiO(2) particles in dried state was ca. 40 nm. The increase in the zeta-potential value of nanoparticles from -34 to +(37-54) mV on going from pure silica suspension to the CTAB-containing system points on the silica surface recharging and formation of surfactant bilayer (or multilayer) on the silica/water interface. To obtain further information about the interfacial surfactant adlayer, the behavior of different indicator dyes has been studied in CTAB-modified SiO(2) suspension. Comparison of the indices of apparent ionization constants, i.e., pK(a)(a) values of phenol red, bromothymol blue, and fluorescein with those determined in CTAB micellar solutions have confirmed the supposition about certain similarity between CTAB-covered silica nanoparticles and common spherical surfactant micelles. However, the experiments on kinetics of bromophenol blue fading, as well as the spectral properties of methyl orange and solvatochromic Reichardt's indicator and some other data revealed the specificity of surfactant-coated silica nanoparticles, presumably, originating from their surface morphology.