Size-controlled synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles using rice husk by microwave-assisted sol-gel method

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with distinct characteristics like particle size, tunable pores, and high surface area have received much interest for environmental remediation, energy conversion, and biological applications. In this work, we synthesized spherical silica nanoparticles with tunable particle size and mesoporous properties using a low-cost silica source (rice husk) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) via microwave-assisted sol-gel synthesis. The formation of an amorphous silica structure was found using XRD and FTIR analysis. FESEM analysis showed that altering the PEG concentration from .01 to .005 M produced spherical silica nanoparticles with 100-500 nm in size. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption demonstrated that silica nanoparticles obtained with .005, .007, and .01 M of PEG had unique pore sizes and distributions, with specific surface areas of 51.475, 62.367, and 84.251 m(2)/g, respectively. These results might be due to PEG molecules' capping effect, which acts as a soft template to regulate particle size, pore size, and dispersion by interacting with sodium silicate precursor. Hence, this approach can be a facile and cost-effective method to prepare mesoporous silica nanoparticles with controllable nanoscale characteristics for suitable applications.

Automated summary

In this study, spherical silica nanoparticles with tunable particle size and mesoporous properties were synthesized using rice husk as a low-cost silica source and polyethylene glycol (PEG) via microwave-assisted sol-gel synthesis. The results showed that changing the PEG concentration produced silica nanoparticles with different sizes and unique pore sizes and distributions. This approach provides a facile and cost-effective method to prepare mesoporous silica nanoparticles with controllable nanoscale characteristics.