Towards long-term colloidal stability of silica-based nanocarriers for hydrophobic molecules: beyond the Stober method

The highly uniform micro- and mesoporous SiO2 nanoparticles (40-70 nm) are hierarchically functionalized with antagonistic groups: hydrophobic (phenyl) on the internal pores and hydrophilic (methyl-phosphonate) on the external surface. Considering the large hydrophobic internal coating and the long-term colloidal stability, these systems are suitable nanocarriers by using the host-guest approach.