Experimental study of the synthesis and characterisation of silica nanoparticles via the sol-gel method

Silica nano-particles were synthesised by chemical methods from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), ethanol (C2H5OH) and deionized water in the presence of ammonia as catalyst at room temperature. The morphology and structure of colloidal silica particles formed depend on the molar ratio of reagents. The formation of silica particles has been investigated using different solvents: ethanol and ethanol-glycerol. The nature and morphology of particles was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).