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US 7,332,351 B2Granted
Method of making nanoparticles
AssigneeUniversity of Florida
InventorsWeihong Tan, Swadeshmukul Santra, Peng Zhang, Rovelyn Tapec, Jon Dobson
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Abstract
Disclosed are silica-coated nanoparticles and a process for producing silica-coated nanoparticles. Silica-coated nanoparticles are prepared by precipitating nano-sized cores from reagents dissolved in the aqueous compartment of a water-in-oil microemulsion. A reactive silicate is added to coat the cores with silica. Also disclosed are methods for functionalizing silica-coated nanoparticles for use in a variety of applications.
Claims13
A method of making coated nanoparticles comprising the steps of:
- providing a microemulsion;
- providing a first aqueous solution of a first reactant and a second aqueous solution of a second reactant, the first reactant and second reactant being selected such that a solid precipitate forms upon mixing the first and second reactants together in an aqueous environment;
- adding the first aqueous solution to a first aliquot of the microemulsion and the second aqueous solution to a second aliquot of the microemulsion;
- mixing together the first and second aliquots to form a reaction mixture that reacts to form nanoparticle cores;
- and
- adding a coating agent to the cores to form coated nanoparticles.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.