Bifunctionalized hybrid silica spheres by hydrolytic cocondensation of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and vinyltriethoxysilane.

Facile, surfactant free synthetic strategy for bifunctionalized hybrid silica spheres (HS) with structural ordering is presented. HS was prepared by casting and drying of stable siloxane solution from hydrolytic co-condensation of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (AS) and vinyltriethoxysilane (VS) with AS:VS mole ratio of 1:3 in ethanol/water mixture. Spheres of size in the range of 250 nm to 2.5 microm were produced by adjusting the concentration of reacted siloxane solution using ethanol. Characterization by FTIR, XRD, TGA, and DSC revealed that the HS was formed from coprecipitation of fully condensed polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) bilayer and incompletely condensed siloxanes (SIL) produced during drying. Formation of POSS bilayer was confirmed by intercalating and stabilizing POSS within a smectite clay and characterizing the modified clay. XRD, FTIR, SEM, and HRTEM of HS heated to 170 degrees C revealed transformation from disordered into ordered lamellar structure of POSS bilayer assembly and siloxane network due to rearrangement and densification of low melting SIL.