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Abstract
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An interesting thing about the silica particles, the shapes and sizes they possess have significant role in diverse usages; as catalysts, make-up products, electronics, and medicine. In particular, size- and shape-controlled monodisperse colloidal silica particles have been the subject of extensive studies owing to the ease of their synthesis. Organic material-modified silica (ORMOSIL) at 0.4 μm to 7.5 μm was successfully synthesized in one step, by means of a low-temperature self-emulsion process. The reaction mixture consisted purely of water, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), a base catalyst, and surfactant. The achieved fine control of particle size and uniformity upon varying the amount of surfactant, reaction time and reaction temperature. These controlled manipulations led to well-defined properties of the generation products. TEOS-based ORMOSIL particles were then transformed to pure silica particles after thermal treatment, allowing for the generation of strictly size-symmetrical particles at 600 °C in terms of size and morphology, and high-purity, highly efficient silica particle generation. This process is reproducible and, therefore, promising for future industry applications.
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