UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF pH IN FILLING MESOPOROUS SILICA WITH MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES

Computer simulation study of filling pores of mesoporous silica with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles which are diffusing towards the silica surface from a water solution with a given pH was presented. Three different values of the pH of the solution were under consideration, pH = 4, 7, and 10. The size of nanoparticles was of the order of magnitude of the nanopore diameter. It was observed that in the case of a low concentration of magnetic nanoparticles in the water solution the process of filling the silica pores weakly depends on the pH of the solution. The value of pH becomes only relevant for large concentration of magnetic nanoparticles. In the simulation, a 2-state Potts model was used for preparing the silica matrix. Diffusion of magnetic nanoparticles was restricted to lattice sites only.