In my lab we've been synthesizing 10-20 nm TiO2 nanoparticles from Titanium Isopropoxide, and now the glassware, no matter how I clean it with solvents, is marked with a white patina. I could have a dedicated set of glassware, if not for the fact that I also need to do a few measurements that require quartz fluorimetry cuvettes, which I have to share with other researchers.
Does anyone have experience with this?
I have tried normal lab-grade solvents, i. e. I haven't tried piraña yet.
Thank you in advance for the help!
If the TiO2 has diffused into the glassware (in essence forming new glass) then there is little choice but to buy new glassware.
Alan F Rawle Thank you for the answer. Can it really diffuse into the glass? The size of the particles is 10-20 nm. All processing was done in room temperature or colder.
Did you try to wash it by water and technical soap (then distillate, etc.)? In my case, it helped ...
Camilla Tossi The smaller the particle the more rapid the diffusion. My reply was speculative - sure try the acids (HCl) first - but solid-solid diffusion is of the order of 10-10 to 10-11 cm2/s. Ceramic waveguides are produced by pressing together (at room temperature) 2 extremely flat surfaces and solid-solid diffusion does the rest. See (Slide 50 onwards in particular):
The importance of the measurement of diffusion in 2-phase systems
https://www.brainshark.com/malvern/vu?pi=65736585&b=1&tx=120486&c1=22
Indeed at small sizes this solid-solid diffusion causes solid bridging and thus irreversible aggregation.
Dr. S. Kalidhasan
Solid-solid diffusion takes place in all materials at room temperature - even easier in smooth and polished surfaces: the basis of ceramic waveguides.. Take a look at the webinar I indicated above - slide 50:The importance of the measurement of diffusion in 2-phase systems
https://www.brainshark.com/malvern/vu?pi=65736585&b=1&tx=120486&c1=22
We're not really aware of it though at the nanoscale - for larger material, inertia is much greater than any attachment/solid-bridging and materials are easily separated. TiO2 typically has a primary size in the 300 - 350 nm region and this means that there are difficulties working with this material because the van der Waals attractive forces can overcome the inertial forces. Take a look at:
Adhesion and cohesion http://tinyurl.com/zwb2wlh
and in IE only:
Dispersion and nanotechnology http://tinyurl.com/hpywsge
There used to be a web site 'Why we hate TiO2' based on its inconvenient material handling issues.
While working on Titania, I used to clean glassware by using acid followed by rinsing with methanol. Finally, to remove white patch of Titania, I used to wipe it using cotton plug using bent spatula.
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