Synthesis of Monodisperse Silica Microspheres by a Modified Stober Method

Monodisperse silica microspheres have drawn much attention for having important applications in many areas. In this paper, a series of monodisperse silica (SiO2) microspheres was synthesized successfully using a modified Stober method in which tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was continuously supplied into the reaction system by a syringe pump. By changing the supply rate of TEOS, the diameters of the obtained SiO2 microspheres were controlled very well from 1 mu m to 3 mu m. Detailed characterization of the silica particles was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).