Synthesis of silica nanosphere from homogeneous and heterogeneous systems

Silica nanosphere was synthesized using homogeneous and heterogeneous systems, respectively. In homogeneous system, silica spheres were synthesized without cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr), which gave bimodal particle size and lower yield (77%). To improve the yield, CTABr was added and found that the yield was very high (100%). The particle was in nm range, but the particle sizes are bimodal. To avoid it, reaction in heterogeneous system using CTABr was carried out. Nanosized silica sphere with uniform size (yield, 94%) was observed. Homogeneous system contains a mixture of ethanol, water, aqueous ammonia and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). In the case of heterogeneous system, only ethanol was absent.