pH tracking of silica hydrogel nanoparticle growth

Alison Cleary, Jan Karolin, David J. S. Birch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The authors show that pH increase, due to removal by condensation of silicic acid, correlates with nanoparticle growth during the initial stages of silica hydrogel formation and becomes constant at a time t(pH), the point when other particle growth mechanisms dominate. Absorption of common phthalein indicators is shown to allow effectively instantaneous tracking of the pH and nanoparticle size in alkaline and acidic hydrogels. Particle sizes are calibrated using the hydrodynamic radius determined from the fluorescence anisotropy decay. Tracking pH complements fluorescence anisotropy nanometrology by offering a lower cost, speedier, and simpler method of studying particle growth during silica hydrogel fabrication. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)113125
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume89
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Sept 2006

Keywords

  • pH
  • fluorescence
  • condensation
  • particle size
  • nanoparticles
  • silicon compounds
  • gels

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