Effect of Sodium Chloride on the Sol-gel Synthesized Silica Colloidal Particles

The effect of sodium chloride on the sol-gel synthesized silica colloidal particles has been investigated. The silica colloidal particles in the size range of 420-800 nm were synthesized from the hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate by varying the amount of sodium chloride from 15 to 30 mg while keeping the tetraethyl orthosilicate (20 ml), ethanol (125 ml), ammonia (6 ml) and distilled water (18 ml) fixed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to analyze the morphology of the synthesized silica particles. Our results demonstrated that: (1) sticky and spongy silica spheroids were resulted if the amount of sodium chloride was less than 15 mg; (2) spherical silica particles were resulted with good monodispersity when the amount of sodium chloride was in the range of 22-24 mg; and (3) silica spheres were obtained but with a wide size distribution when the amount of sodium chloride was more than 26 mg.