Synthesis and Characterization of SiO2 Nanoparticles via Sol-gel Method for Industrial Applications

Silica nanoparticles have received an intensive attention of scientific community due to its broad applications in industry. The optical properties of silica nanoparticles can be attained with respect to surface defect related to large surface/volume ratio according to the applications. In this paper, silica nanoparticles were synthesized from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor and PVP as a surfactant by employing sol-gel method. By XRD measurement, a broad peak of pure amorphous nature is observed while FTIR analysis showed hygroscopic nature of particles. TEM measurement has also confirmed the amorphous structure of prepared SiO2 nanoparticles with theiraverage diameter similar to 25 nm. The compositional ratio of silicon and oxygen is analyzed by EDX and found to be satisfactory. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.