title: Self-assembly of multi-hierarchically structured spongy mesoporous silica particles and mechanism of their formation.
abstract: Here we report on self-assembly of novel multi-hierarchically structured meso(nano)porous colloidal silica particles which have cylindrical pores of 4-6nm, overall size of ∼10μm and "cracks" of 50-200nm. These cracks make particles look like micro-sponges. The particles were prepared through a modified templated sol-gel self-assembly process. The mechanism of assembly of these particles is investigated. Using encapsulated fluorescent dye, we demonstrate that the spongy particles are advantageous to facilitate dye diffusion out of particles. This multi-hierarchically geometry of particles can be used to improve the particle design for multiple applications to control drug release, rate of catalysis, filtration, utilization of particles as hosts for functional molecules (e.g., enzymes), etc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 200 College ave., Medford, MA 02155, USA.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kalaparthi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 200 College ave., Medford, MA 02155, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palantavida
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia; Laboratoire CRISMAT, UMR 6508 CNRS-ENSICAEN, 6 bd du Maréchal Juin, 14050 CAEN Cedex 4, France.
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Mordvinova
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire CRISMAT, UMR 6508 CNRS-ENSICAEN, 6 bd du Maréchal Juin, 14050 CAEN Cedex 4, France.
authors.forename: O I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Lebedev
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 200 College ave., Medford, MA 02155, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, 4 Cobe Str., Medford, MA 02155, USA; Department of Physics, Tufts University, 547 Boston ave., Medford, MA 02155, USA. Electronic address: igor.sokolov@tufts.edu.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sokolov
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Nanoporous silica colloids; Pore and interface geometry; Self-assembly mechanism