Issue 2, 2010
From the journal:

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Towards understanding of shape formation mechanism of mesoporous silica particles†

Dmytro O. Volkov,a   James Benson,a   Yaroslav Y. Kievskya  and  Igor Sokolov*abc  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Physics, 8 Clarkson Ave., Clarkson University, Potsdam, USA
E-mail: isokolov@clarkson.edu

b Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, USA

c Nanoengineering and Biotechnology Laboratories Center (NABLAB), Clarkson University, Potsdam, USA

Abstract

Growth of even simple crystals is a rather hard problem to describe because of the non-equilibrium nature of the process. Meso(nano)porous silica particles, which are self-assembled in a sol-gel template synthesis, demonstrate an example of shapes of high complexity, similar to those observed in the biological world. Despite such complexity, here we present the evidence that at least a part of the formation of these shapes is an equilibrium process. We demonstrate it for an example of mesoporous fibers, one of the abundant shapes. We present a quantitative proof that the fiber free energy is described by the Boltzmann distribution, which is predicted by the equilibrium thermodynamics. This finding may open up new ground for a quantitative description of the morphogenesis of complex self-assembled shapes, including biological hierarchy.

Graphical abstract: Towards understanding of shape formation mechanism of mesoporous silica particles

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B917424A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Aug 2009
Accepted
01 Oct 2009
First published
07 Nov 2009

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010,12, 341-344

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Towards understanding of shape formation mechanism of mesoporous silica particles

D. O. Volkov, J. Benson, Y. Y. Kievsky and I. Sokolov, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 341 DOI: 10.1039/B917424A

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