Randomizing the growth of silica nanofibers for whiteness.
Cell Rep Phys Sci
; 5(6): 102021, 2024 Jun 19.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38947181
ABSTRACT
In colloids, the shape influences the function. In silica, straight nanorods have already been synthesized from water-in-oil emulsions. By contrast, curly silica nanofibers have been less reported because the underlying growth mechanism remains unexplored, hindering further morphology control for applications. Herein, we describe the synthetic protocol for silica nanofibers with a tunable curliness based on the control of the water-in-oil emulsion droplets. Systematically decreasing the droplet size and increasing their contact angle, the Brownian motion of the droplets intensifies during the silica growth, thus increasing the random curliness of the nanofibers. This finding is supported by simplistic theoretical arguments and experimentally verified by varying the temperature to finely tune the curliness. Assembling these nanofibers toward porous disordered films enhances multiple scattering in the visible range, resulting in increased whiteness in contrast to films constructed by spherical and rod-like building units, which can be useful for, e.g., coatings and pigments.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Cell Rep Phys Sci
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Finlândia
País de publicação:
Estados Unidos