- Title
- High-resolution analysis of the influence of reactant concentration on nucleation time and growth of polyethyleneimine-trimethoxymethylsilane particles
- Creator
- Seyfaee, Ahmad; Moreno-Atanasio, Roberto; Neville, Frances
- Relation
- Colloid and Polymer Science Vol. 292, Issue 10, p. 2673-2685
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00396-014-3312-y
- Publisher
- Springer
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- High-resolution dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), time-lapse photography, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to analyze the growth kinetics of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-silica particles fabricated from the condensation of hydrolyzed trimethoxymethylsilane (TMOMS) and PEI/phosphate buffer (PEI/PB). Depending on the concentration of hydrolyzed TMOMS and PEI/PB, three stages were identified. We observed the existence of a nucleation time that has never been reported in the literature when TMOMS has been used. During this nucleation time, particles of less than 25 nm were detected using in situ DLS measurements taken every 15 s (high resolution), a DLS time-scale resolution not previously reported. In addition, the length of the nucleation time depended mainly on the PEI/PB concentration, but also TMOMS concentration. The growth stage was evident from the rapid increase of particle size with time. Due to the high resolution of the DLS measurements, a peak could be observed in the particle diameter during particle growth, which corresponds to a secondary population of particles required for the larger particles to further increase in size. Finally, during the equilibrium region, particles reached their maximum diameter that was independent of the concentration of PEI/PB and only changed with concentration of hydrolyzed TMOMS.
- Subject
- trimethoxymethylsilane; nucleation time; induction time; aggregation; growth kinetics; fabrication; polyethyleneimine
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1304771
- Identifier
- uon:20920
- Identifier
- ISSN:0303-402X
- Language
- eng
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