Does anyone have any idea about how to functionalize metal oxide nano particles like ZnO,TiO2,SnO2 by Trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane, simple solution methods.
Chlorosilanes are very reactive, so while I do not have a procedure for this specific silane, it should be straightfoward to develop a functionalization procedure with a few things in mind:
1) Use a polar organic, anhydrous solvent. Water content needs to be controlled (and hopefully minimized) to prevent unwanted reactions of the silanes among themselves. Toluene is common for silanes, but methanol is usually a good solvent for perfluoroalkyl molecules.
2) You may need to control the degree of hydration of the oxide surface to get a good layer, possibly by drying the particles (for example, 200 deg.C in vacuum is necessary to remove adsorbed water from silica).
3) The particles should be well dispersed in solvent prior to adding the silane, the most common method being sonication.
4) In terms of amount, use the surface area of your particles and the area of the silane as a guide. Use monolayer coverage of the particles as a guide... you may need more to actually get the amount that you need onto the particles but at least you will have an idea of the order of magnitude to use.
Chlorosilanes are very reactive, so while I do not have a procedure for this specific silane, it should be straightfoward to develop a functionalization procedure with a few things in mind:
1) Use a polar organic, anhydrous solvent. Water content needs to be controlled (and hopefully minimized) to prevent unwanted reactions of the silanes among themselves. Toluene is common for silanes, but methanol is usually a good solvent for perfluoroalkyl molecules.
2) You may need to control the degree of hydration of the oxide surface to get a good layer, possibly by drying the particles (for example, 200 deg.C in vacuum is necessary to remove adsorbed water from silica).
3) The particles should be well dispersed in solvent prior to adding the silane, the most common method being sonication.
4) In terms of amount, use the surface area of your particles and the area of the silane as a guide. Use monolayer coverage of the particles as a guide... you may need more to actually get the amount that you need onto the particles but at least you will have an idea of the order of magnitude to use.
It is of no surprise that the surface of metal oxides (MeO) "is covered" by surface
Me-OH groups. These groups are frequently use to modify the properties of the nanoparticles made of Metal Oxides. For Example - the concentration of SiOH groups on the surface of silice is about 4-groups per 100 square Angstroms of surface and could be sligtly increased by treatment of SiO2 by saturated water vapor in autoclave.
The same is true for TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles. All the above information is well described in the literature and is knonw for more than 30 years. See for example the early works of J.L. Koenig and H. Ishida od CWRU.
Here I will give several quotations from Stephen E Ranking answer:
1. "Chlorosilanes are very reactive" - that's true, but FLUORINE will substantially reduce the reactivity. Nonetheless - I am sure that the reaction will proceed OK
2."Use a polar organic, anhydrous solvent. Water content needs to be controlled (and hopefully minimized) to prevent unwanted reactions of the silanes among themselves"
- To 'Use a polar organic, anhydrous solvent" - is not important. J.L. Koenig and many other researchers including myself - used Ethanol with some water added.
A standard procedure of functionalization is : take a 5-10% toluene solution (it's anhydrous , of course) - and place the nanoparticles in it for 10-20 minutes.
Then rinse them in a rapid stream of just TAP WATER - to remove the little amount of condensation products from Si-OH + HO-Si from your modifier-agent.
Then rinse them in Distilled water.
And at last - dry at 125-130C for 30 minutes in heating oven.
You could use phosphonic acids, I have functionalized a variety of metal oxides with them. Works very well and very easy to use. Here a link to two of my publications that are relevant to this topic. Particularly relevant the first one.