title: Chiral colloids: homogeneous suspension of individualized SiO2 helical and twisted nanoribbons.
abstract: Finely tuned chiral nanometric silica fibers were synthesized based on sol-gel chemistry using organic self-assembly as a template. The optimization of the sol-gel process in acidic conditions allowed us to reduce the transcription time by a factor of 10. These nanohelices were successfully fragmented while preserving the fine internal structures from several micrometers to several hundreds of nanometers in length by a sonication method previously reported for carbon nanotubes. By carefully choosing the nature of the solvent, the sonication power, pH in the case of water, and densification of the silica walls by freeze-drying, the homogeneous and stable colloidal suspensions of individualized chiral nanometric silica ribbons with controlled length were obtained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kumamoto University , 2-39-1, Kurokami, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Jiaji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Dmytro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dedovets
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kemper
authors.forename: Marie-Hélène
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Delville
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Durrieu
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ihara
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takafuji
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pouget
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oda