6 research outputs found
Family of Single-Micelle-Templated Organosilica Hollow Nanospheres and Nanotubes Synthesized through Adjustment of Organosilica/Surfactant Ratio
A family of hollow organosilica nanospheres and nanotubes
was synthesized
at appropriately low organosilica-precursor/block-copolymer-surfactant
ratios. In Pluronic F127 (EO<sub>106</sub>PO<sub>70</sub>EO<sub>106</sub>) block copolymer templated synthesis of ethylene-bridged organosilicas
in the presence of a swelling agent, the lowering of the organosilica-precursor/surfactant
ratio led to a change from highly ordered face-centered cubic structure
of spherical mesopores to individual hollow spherical nanoparticles.
It was hypothesized that at low ratios of organosilica precursor to
PEO-PPO-PEO, the framework precursor is solubilized in the micelles
and its concentration on their surface is not sufficient to induce
appreciable cross-linking between the resulting nanoobjects and the
consolidation into larger particles. The inner pore size of the nanospheres
was adjusted by varying the micelle expander, allowing us to obtain
pore diameters up to ∼20 nm. By employing low precursor/surfactant
ratios, hollow spheres of methylene-, ethenylene-, and phenylene-bridged
organosilicas were synthesized. Hollow silica spheres were also obtained
through judicious choice of block copolymer. The synthesis strategy
involving the adjustment of the framework-precursor/surfactant ratio
was further extended on organosilica nanotubes synthesized using Pluronic
P123 surfactant and cyclohexane as a swelling agent. One can envision
a large number of framework compositions for which hollow nanospheres
and nanotubes can be obtained using our synthesis approach
Surfactant-Templated Synthesis of Ordered Silicas with Closed Cylindrical Mesopores
Ordered mesoporous silicas with 2-dimensional hexagonal
arrays of closed cylindrical pores were synthesized via templating
with block copolymer surfactant followed by calcination at appropriately
high temperatures. Precursors to closed-pore silicas, including SBA-15
silicas and organosilicas, were selected based on the existence of
narrow passages to the mesopores. The increase in calcination temperature
to 800–950 °C led to a dramatic decrease in nitrogen uptake
by the materials, indicating the loss of accessible mesopores, whereas
small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) indicated no major structural
changes other than the framework shrinkage. Since SAXS patterns for
ordered mesoporous materials are related to periodic arrays of mesopores,
the existence of closed mesopores was evident, as additionally confirmed
by TEM. The formation of closed-pore silicas was demonstrated for
ultralarge-pore SBA-15 and large-pore phenylene-bridged periodic mesoporous
organosilicas. The increase in the amount of tetraethyl orthosilicate
in standard SBA-15 synthesis also allowed us to observe the thermally
induced pore closing. It is hypothesized that the presence of porous
plugs in the cylindrical mesopores and/or caps at their ends was responsible
for the propensity to the pore closing at sufficiently high temperatures.
The observed behavior is likely to be relevant to a variety of silicas
and organosilicas with cylindrical mesopores
Investigation of High-Pressure and Temperature Behavior of Surfactant-Containing Periodic Mesostructured Silicas
Surfactant-containing periodic mesostructured silica
materials,
namely SBA-16 and FDU-12, were studied under pressures between 1 and
4 GPa and temperatures between 100 and 400 °C. At 4 GPa crystallization
of coesite can be achieved already at 200 °C. The mild transition
of amorphous to crystalline silica is believed to be accomplished
by the inbuilt hydroxyl groups present in the starting material. At
2 GPa the crystallization of quartz is accomplished at a temperature
of 400 °C. Both quartz and coesite are obtained in nanocrystalline
form
Face-Centered-Cubic Large-Pore Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas with Unsaturated and Aromatic Bridging Groups
Large-pore ethenylene-bridged (−CHCH−)
and
phenylene-bridged (−C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>4</sub>−) periodic
mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) with face-centered-cubic structure
(<i>Fm</i>3<i>m</i> symmetry) of spherical mesopores
were synthesized at 7 °C at low acid concentration (0.1 M HCl)
using Pluronic F127 triblock copolymer surfactant in the presence
of aromatic swelling agents (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, xylenes–isomer
mixture, and toluene). In particular, this work reports an unprecedented
block-copolymer-templated well-ordered ethenylene-bridged PMO with
cubic structure of spherical mesopores and an unprecedented block-copolymer-templated
face-centered cubic phenylene-bridged PMO, which also has an exceptionally
large unit-cell size and pore diameter. The unit-cell parameters of
30 and 25 nm and the mesopore diameters of 14 and 11 nm (nominal BJH-KJS
pore diameters of 12–13 and 9 nm) were obtained for ethenylene-bridged
and phenylene-bridged PMOs, respectively. Under the considered reaction
conditions, the unit-cell parameters and pore diameters were found
to be similar when the three different methyl-substituted benzene
swelling agents were employed, although the degree of structural ordering
appeared to improve for phenylene-bridged PMOs in the sequence of
decreased number of methyl groups on the benzene ring
Low-Temperature Synthesis of Magic-Sized CdSe Nanoclusters: Influence of Ligands on Nanocluster Growth and Photophysical Properties
We present a low-temperature (68–70 °C) synthesis
of green light-emitting, trioctylphosphine oxide-capped magic-sized
CdSe nanoclusters from the reaction of trioctylphosphine oxide–cadmium
acetate precursors with trioctylphosphine selenide. We observed continuous
growth of these magic-sized nanoclusters, which displayed a first
absorption peak at 422 nm and broad luminescence covering the entire
visible region. The diameter of the nanoclusters determined by transmission
electron microscopic measurement was ∼1.8 nm. Powder X-ray
diffraction analysis showed a sharp peak at low angle (2θ =
5.3°), confirming the formation of ultrasmall, magic-sized nanoclusters.
The nanocluster formation was also studied using different purities
of trioctylphosphine oxide. The synthetic protocol was extended to
the preparation of oleylamine-, ethylphosphonic acid-, lauric acid-,
and trioctylamine-stabilized magic-sized CdSe nanoclusters. Importantly,
the investigation showed that the nature of the cadmium precursors
plays a crucial role in the nanocluster growth mechanism. The applicability
of the trioctylphosphine oxide-capped nanoclusters was further investigated
through a ligand exchange reaction with oleylamine, which displayed
an extremely narrow absorption peak at 415 nm (full width at half-maximum
of 14 nm) and a band edge emission peak at 456 nm with a shoulder
at 438 nm
Isolation of Bright Blue Light-Emitting CdSe Nanocrystals with 6.5 kDa Core in Gram Scale: High Photoluminescence Efficiency Controlled by Surface Ligand Chemistry
Alkylamine-capped
blue light-emitting (CdSe)<sub>34</sub> nanocrystals
were synthesized via a phosphine-free method and isolated in gram-scale
quantity. The exclusive formation of 6.5 kDa core mass was confirmed
by combined optical spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry
studies. Variable power laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry
further confirmed the formation of the (CdSe)<sub>34</sub> core. The
surface ligand chemistry was found to be extremely important in enhancing
the photoluminescence properties. The nanocrystals were highly stable
during the postsynthetic ligand treatment with triphenylphosphine,
which increased their fluorescent quantum yield up to 23.6% without
compromising the core composition as determined by mass spectrometry.
Examination of their <sup>31</sup>P and <sup>1</sup>H NMR spectra
demonstrated the presence of amine and phosphine on the surface of
the nanocrystals where phosphines were selectively attached to surface
selenium sites that stabilized the nonradiative trap states and increased
the fluorescence quantum yield. The gram-scale synthesis and high
quantum yield of single-sized nanocrystals should greatly facilitate
new and improved semiconductor nanocrystal applications in the field
of nanoscience and nanotechnology, resulting in more rapid and less
expensive production of future advanced electrochromic and light-emitting
devices