ABSTRACT
Theory and Earlier Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Reactions and Chemical Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . 66
Nucleation and Growth: Results from
the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Silicon Environments and Solid-State
NMR Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Experimental Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Materials and Particle Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Light Scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Elemental Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Electron Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
NMR Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Particle Morphology (SLS, DLS, and TEM) . . . 72
Particle Microstructure (NMR Spectroscopy
and Elemental Analysis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Nucleation and Growth Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . 77
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Monodisperse colloidal silica spheres were prepared by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethoxysilane
(TES) in a mixture of water, ammonia, and a lower alcohol. These silica spheres were coated with the coup-
ling agent 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) in the reaction medium. A new colloidal model system that
was prepared consisted of a stable dispersion of monodisperse, hybrid, organic-inorganic “silica” spheres.
