title: Autocatalytic synthesis of multifunctional precursors for fabricating silica microspheres with well-dispersed Ag and Co3O4nanoparticles.
abstract: Herein, an autocatalytic route to fabricate dual metal ion-equipped organic/inorganic hybrid silica, an ideal precursor for multifunctional silica-based composites integrated with well-dispersed Ag and Co3O4nanoparticles was demonstrated. Significantly, by rational selection of reactants, such dual metal ion-equipped organic/inorganic hybrid silica can be synthesized through successive spontaneous reactions under near neutral conditions without an additional catalyst. Both the Ag+and Co2+ions are introduced into silica by chemical bonds, which favor the formation of small-sized and well-dispersed Ag and Co3O4nanoparticles without aggregation in the entire silica matrix. After calcination, multifunctional silica composites equipped with well-dispersed Ag and Co3O4nanoparticles were obtained. The as-obtained silica composites, as indicated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), have a spherical morphology and smooth surface. TEM tests also reveal the well dispersed fashion of Ag and Co3O4nanoparticles. In addition, the obtained Ag-Co3O4@SiO2composites exhibit good catalytic performance in the reduction of methylene blue (MB) with NaBH4as a reducing agent, and can be readily recycled by an external magnetic field due to their superparamagnetic properties.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Linxu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. cuit@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Tieyu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cui