Title: Study of properties of silicone-silica crystalline nanospheres in aqueous solutions by capillary zone electrophoresis

Authors: N.G. Vanifatova, B.Y. Spivakov, A.I. Belogorokhov, Y.A. Karpov, Ilya Kuselman

Addresses: Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry (GEOKHI), Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygin Str. 19, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation. ' Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry (GEOKHI), Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygin Str. 19, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation. ' Institute for Rare-Metals Industry (GIREDMET), B. Tolmachevsky per. 5, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. ' Institute for Rare-Metals Industry (GIREDMET), B. Tolmachevsky per. 5, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. ' The National Physical Laboratory of Israel (INPL), Danciger 'A' Bldg, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

Abstract: Nanospheres containing a crystalline silicon core covered with thin silica shell were prepared by super high-frequency plasmochemical technique and studied in aqueous solutions by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The nanospheres dispersed in phosphate buffer solutions by ultrasonication were found to be a mixture of negatively charged nanoparticles. Dependences of their electrophoretic mobility on pH were similar to those of the silica certified reference materials (CRMs) produced by Polysciences Inc., USA. The particle zeta potentials estimated were 39 and 58 mV in 2.5 mM phosphate buffer solutions with pH 5.9 and 8.5, respectively. The nanoparticle average diameter determined by scanning electron microscopy after drying the phosphate buffer solutions was 58 nm. The comparison of the studied particle characteristics with those of the CRMs allowed to conclude that the fabricated particles are applicable for biomedical technologies like silica nanoparticles. It was shown also that CZE may be used for size estimation of the silicon particles having a silica shell in aqueous solutions.

Keywords: nanospheres; crystalline silicon; silica shell; scanning electron microscopy; capillary zone electrophoresis; CZE; zeta potential; electrophoretic mobility; certified reference materials; nanoparticle size; calibration; biomedical applications; nanoparticles; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2010.033222

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2010 Vol.3 No.1, pp.65 - 76

Published online: 13 May 2010 *

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