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2533352 
Journal Article 
Facile Synthesis of Size Controllable Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles 
Yu, YJ; Xing, JL; Pang, JL; Jiang, SH; Lam, KF; Yang, TQ; Xue, QS; Zhang, K; Wu, P 
2014 
1 
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
ISSN: 1944-8244
EISSN: 1944-8252 
6 
24 
22655-22665 
English 
25454255 
WOS:000347139400109 
The synthesis of highly uniform mesoporous silica nanospheres (MSNs) with dendritic pore channels, particularly ones with particle sizes below 200 nm, is extremely difficult and remains a grand challenge. By a combined synthetic strategy using the imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) with different alkyl lengths as cosurfactants and Pluronic F127 non-ionic surfactants as inhibitors of particle growth, the preparation of dendritic MSNs with controlled diameter between 40~300 nm was successfully realized. An investigation of dendritic MSNs using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and nitrogen physisorption revealed that the synthesis of dendritic MSNs in larger size of 100~300 nm strongly depends on the alkyl lengths of cationic imidazolium ILs; while the average size of dendritic MSNs can be controlled within the range of 40~100 nm by varying the amount of Pluronic F127. The Au@MSNs can be used as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4 into 4-aminophenol, and exhibit excellent catalytic performance. The present discovery of the extended synthesis conditions offers reproducible, facile and large-scale synthesis of the monodisperse spherical MSNs with precise size control, and thus has vast prospects for future applications of ultrafine mesostructured nanoparticle materials in the catalysis and bio-medicine. 
colloidal mesoporous silica nanoparticles; alkyl imidazolium ionic liquids; size control; growth inhibitor