Synthesis of Stober silica nanoparticles in solvent environments with different Hansen solubility parameters

The most commonly used technique for obtaining SiO2 nanoparticles of controlled size is the Stober synthesis. In this paper, a series of Stober syntheses in media with different thermodynamic parameters are described and the obtained nanoparticles were characterized by electron microscopy. As a result, it was shown that the solvent variation in the Stober synthesis is a working tool for controlling the particle size of silica. The addition of nonpolar liquids to the reaction mixture led to the formation of smaller particles. Also, it was found that an increase in the dispersion and polar parameters of the solvent leads to an increase in the size of the resulting SiO2 nanoparticles. The same observations were obtained with a decrease in the index of hydrogen interactions be-tween solvent molecules.

Automated summary

Stober synthesis is the most commonly used technique to control the size of SiO2 nanoparticles. In this paper, a series of Stober syntheses in media with different thermodynamic parameters were carried out, and the obtained nanoparticles were characterized using electron microscopy. The results showed that the variation of solvent in Stober synthesis is an effective tool for controlling the particle size of silica. The addition of nonpolar liquids resulted in smaller particles, while an increase in the dispersion and polar parameters of the solvent led to an increase in the size of the resulting SiO2 nanoparticles.