Here, we present the synthesis, characterization and magnetic separation of magnetic polyorganosiloxane nanoparticles. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with average particle radii of 3.2 nm had been synthesized by a simple coprecipitation process of iron(II) and iron(III) salt in basic solution. Afterwards, the particles were successfully incorporated into a polyorganosiloxane network via a polycondensation reaction of trimethoxymethylsilane (T), diethoxydimethylsilane (D) and the functional monomer (chloromethylphenyl)trimethoxysilane (ClBz-T) in aqueous dispersion. A core–shell system was chosen to increase the flexibility of the system concerning size, composition and functionalization possibilities. The magnetic nanocapsules with particle radii below 60 nm were separated from non-magnetic material with a high effectiveness by the use of commercially available separation columns which are commonly used for isolation of microbeads and subsequently characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF-FFF), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and Mössbauer spectroscopy.
The acid catalyzed solgel type synthesis of polyorganosiloxane core-shell nanoparticles with removable PDMS core in aqueous dispersion leads to the inherent formation of a bimodal size distribution with smaller spheres having approximately 26 nm radii and larger nanoparticles with 60 nm in radius. The origin of the self-organized bimodality is investigated and finally attributed to a combination of stabilization of the growing particles due to i) a miniemulsion-type stabilization by the ultrahydrophobe PDMS and ii) by surface co-stabilization by the employed surfactant. The significant influence of temperature, pH, stirrer speed and amount of the surfactant on the particle sizes allows for the design and fine-tuning of different nanoparticles sizes and distributions.
Characterization of polymer nanoparticles by asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation (AF-FFF)
(2010)
Interaction forces between all objects are either of repulsive or attractive nature. Concerning attractive interactions, the determination of dispersion forces are of special interest since they appear in all colloidal systems and have a crucial influence on the properties and processes in these systems. One possibility to link theory and experiment is the description of the London–Van der Waals forces in terms of the Hamaker constant, which leads to the challenging problem of calculating the van der Waals interaction energies between colloidal particles. Hence, the determination of a Hamaker constant for a given material is needed when interfacial phenomena such as adhesion are discussed in terms of the total potential energy between particles and substrates. In this work, the asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF-FFF) in combination with a Newton algorithm based iteration process was used for the determination of Hamaker constants of different nanoparticles in toluene.