The effect of ethanol and temperature on the structural properties of mesoporous silica synthesized by the sol-gel method

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are synthesized in the presence of ethanol as a co-solvent and different temperatures by the sol-gel process. The spherical mesoporous silica nanoparticles are obtained at 50˚C in presence of 1 ml ethanol. Increasing the reaction temperature with constant amount of ethanol from 30˚C to 50˚C, decreases the particle size scarcely from 84–115 to 86–94 nm and further increasing of temperature from 50˚C to 80˚C, increases the particle size to 160 nm with disordered morphology of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Presence of ethanol leads to formation of high quality, clear and uniform particles with desirable spherical morphology and larger particles up to 170nm in constant temperature. Furthermore, the structural properties of mesoporous silica nanoparticles are improved by increasing ethanol in the synthesis. According to N2 adsorption-desorption, with 5 ml ethanol, the pore size, pore volume and specific surface area are 3.93 nm, 0.40 Cm3 g−1, and 531 m2 g−1, respectively.