Synthesis of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) Nanowires via a Polyethylene Glycol-Based Emulsion Template Method in Isopropanol
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Typical wet-chemical methods for the preparation of silica nanowires use polyvinylpyrrolidone and n-pentanol. This study presents a polyethylene glycol-based emulsion template method for the synthesis of SiO2 nanowires (SiO2NWs) in isopropanol. By systematically optimizing key parameters (type of solvent, polyethylene glycol molecular weight and dosage, dosage of sodium citrate, ammonium and tetraethyl orthosilicate, incubation temperature and time), SiO2NWs with diameters about 530 nm were obtained. Replacing polyvinylpyrrolidone with polyethylene glycol enabled anisotropic growth in isopropanol, overcoming the dependency on traditional solvents like n-pentanol. Scale-up experiments (10× volume) demonstrated robust reproducibility, yielding nanowires with consistent morphology (~580 nm diameter). After calcination at 500 °C for 1 h, the morphology of the nanowires did not change significantly.
Source: Nanomaterials
DOI: 10.3390/nano15050326
Authors: Jian Liu, Yonghua Sun, Tianfeng Yang
Institution: Chengdu University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W4407766351