Synthesis of Silica Nanoparticles from Sodium Silicate and Carbon Dioxide as Reactants

Abstract

In this study, Taylor-vortex reactor was adopted to synthesize silica nanoparticles from sodium silicate solution and carbon dioxide. The outstanding advantages of the reactor have been demonstrated by comparing the synthesis results of silica nanoparticles by Erlenmeyer reactor. The results showed that silica particles synthesized from Taylor-vortex reactor are smaller in size than silica particles synthesized from the Erlenmeyer reactor. SEM images and histogram of particle size distribution obtained from experiments clearly exhibited that the concentration of SiO2 in the solution, reaction temperature, and rotation speed of the cylinder significantly affected morphology as well as size of the silica particles.