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Fast responsive thermally stable silica microspheres for sensing evaluation: sol–gel approach

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel, hybrids and solution chemistries
  • Published:
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Abstract

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelle-templated mesoporous SiO2 particles (MSPs) are synthesized by sol–gel method. The CTAB templated SiO2 particles (SPs) possessed spherical structure with low average surface roughness (Ra) 1 nm. The CTAB template is effectively removed from SPs by 400 °C heat treatment without any cracks and disruption of the bonding between the functional groups and the SiO2 surface. After CTAB template removal, SiO2 microspheres (SMSs) possessed high surface area 640 m2/g, pore radius 10 nm, and Ra ~ 4.4 nm, making them highly attractive for sensing. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) confirmed that SMSs are thermally stable, showing 0.7% weight loss after 429 °C temperature. Phenol red immobilized SMSs show large pKa value 8.1 at 560 nm. Good repeatability, no leaching traces, and fast response time ~0.09 s in basic media suggested that proposed material has potential for opto-chemical sensing/photonic applications.

Highlights

  • Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide assisted mesoporous silica particles were synthesized by sol–gel method.

  • Thermally stable mesoporous silica microspheres (SMSs) possessed high surface area 640 m2/g, and high surface roughness 4.4 nm.

  • SMSs were observed to be thermally stable by 0.7% weight loss after 429 °C temperature.

  • Phenol red immobilized SMSs showed opto-chemical response with large pKa value 8.1 at 560 nm.

  • Low-temperature based SMSs showed good repeatability without any leaching response and fast response time ~0.09.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Co-financed by the Malaysian Ministry of Education through PDRU fund vote 04E55. Moreover, the authors AA and SI would like to express their gratitude to Deanship of scientific research at King Faisal University for the financial support under RAE’D track (grant no. 187010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laser Centre, Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

    Shumaila Islam & Hazri Bakhtiar

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Hassa, Hofuf, 31982, Saudi Arabia

    Shumaila Islam & Adil Alshoaibi

  3. Department of Physics and Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science and Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 84600, Muar, Malaysia

    Zuhaib Haider

  4. Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Saira Riaz & Shahzad Naseem

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  1. Shumaila Islam
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  2. Hazri Bakhtiar
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  3. Adil Alshoaibi
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Correspondence to Shumaila Islam.

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Islam, S., Bakhtiar, H., Alshoaibi, A. et al. Fast responsive thermally stable silica microspheres for sensing evaluation: sol–gel approach. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 96, 614–626 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05366-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05366-0

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