Silica nanoparticles have a variety of interesting properties and thus a wide array of applications. They are strong, abrasive materials that can be used to polish silicon wafers. They are effective at reducing friction and as a result, are used to coat waxed floors and even railroad tracks. Their absorptive properties make them useful in papermaking as a drainage aid. They can serve as a binding agent in the manufacture of rubber, plastics, and concrete. Most notably, they are stable and non-toxic materials with innumerable applications in biomedicine.
Silica is an important component of an array of nanomaterial heterostructures with a wide range of interesting applications. Just a small sampling of these applications are described below.
Nanomedicine
Inorganic nanoparticles are useful for in vivo cell tracking due to their small sizes, high cellular uptake, and impedance mismatch with cells. A recent publication describes the use of NanoXact Silica Nanospheres as an ultrasound contrast agent to facilitate stem cell tracking in mice. The steps for cell labeling and nanoparticle integration are outlined in the report, using silica as a model system.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and hollow silica nanoparticles (HSNs) have garnered considerable attention for targeted drug delivery due to their uniquely large surface areas, easy surface modification, biocompatibility. The porous structures and surfaces can be engineered for targeting tissues and cells with unprecedented specificity and control. For more general information about nanomedicine, go to our course on Nanobiotechnology.
Catalysis
The pores and surface chemistries of mesoporous and hollow silica nanoparticles provide ideal sites for executing highly specific chemical transformations, offering increased efficiency and enhanced selectivity over other catalytic systems. The internal pores of these structures can be functionalized with catalyst, and the pore sizes tuned to offer exclusive entry to molecules participating in the catalytic process.
Plasmonic Color Thin Films
Silica coated plasmonic particles can be integrated into a much wider variety of matrices than unshelled particles. Silica coated silver and gold nanoparticles have been used to produce robust glazes and paints that can be applied to a wide variety of surfaces.
ActiBlu Color Changing Silver Nanoplates
Silica coated silver nanoplates will change color in the presence of a liquid or high humidity. This is due to the transport of water and salts across the silica shell where the high curvature silver nanoplate edges will be selectively dissolved. When the silver plates dissolve, the plasmon resonant wavelength shifts resulting in a distinct color change. By adjusting the thickness of porosity of the silica shell, the rate of color change can be adjusted. This material is being investigated as a color indicator to signify when a wound dressing should be exchanged.
Surface Enhanced Spectroscopy
Silica shells are useful for embedding dyes or other specialized molecules near to the surfaces of metal nanoparticles. These nanomaterial architectures can be designed to enhance the spectroscopic signatures of plasmonic metal nanoparticles and increase the sensitivity of spectroscopic measurements such as fluorescence and Raman. For more information on this phenomenon, check out our course on Surface Enhanced Spectroscopy.
DNA Extraction
Functionalized silica can be used to bind DNA molecules as an effective method for DNA separation. By adjusting the ionic strength of the environment through manipulation of the pH and salt concentration, DNA fragments of various sizes can be selectively separated. This approach is especially valuable for binding DNA on microchips, where extracting DNA by other methods has proven challenging.
Magnetic Separation
Silica shelled superparamagnetic nanoparticles combine the interesting properties of the core material with the enhanced stability offered by the shell material. Silica shells offer the additional benefits associated with their functionalized surfaces that facilitates binding to proteins or DNA molecules with an array of biomedical applications. Silica is a common component of columns used for biomolecular separation, thus magnetic silica particles have applications for separation in solution and microfluidic devices.
Additionally, a silica coating on magnetite particles can serve as an interface or spacer for attachment of a different material with interesting optical properties, such as a plasmonic metal or a fluorescent quantum dot that can couple to the magnetic nanoparticle core. For more information about interfacing silica with magnetic materials, visit this page about our Custom Magnetic Nanomaterials.
Instrumental Method Development
Silica nanoparticles are commonly used as standards for instrumental method development, including single-particle ICP-MS (SP-ICP-MS). Silica presents unique challenges for ICP-MS characterization due to high background at the m/z value of silicon's most abundant isotope (28Si).
Check out this Application Note to see how Perkin Elmer uses nanoComposix silica nanoparticles to overcome these challenges and analytically quantify Si content by SP-ICP-MS.
Additional Resources
- Mukherjee, A.; Darlington, T.; Baldwin, R.; Holz, C.; Olson, S.; Kulkarni, P.; DeWeese, T. L.; Getzenberg, R. H.; Ivkov, R.; Lupold, S. E. Development and Screening of a Series of Antibody-Conjugated and Silica Coated Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles for Targeting the Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen Chem. Med. Chem. 2014 9 (7), 1356-1360.
FAQs
Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) are composed of silicon dioxide, the most abundant compound on Earth, and are used widely in many applications including the food industry, synthetic processes, medical diagnosis, and drug delivery due to their controllable particle size, large surface area, and great biocompatibility.
What are the applications of silica particles? ›
Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) are composed of silicon dioxide, the most abundant compound on Earth, and are used widely in many applications including the food industry, synthetic processes, medical diagnosis, and drug delivery due to their controllable particle size, large surface area, and great biocompatibility.
What is the application of nano silicon? ›
Silicon nanoparticles may also be used as delivery agents for proteins, nucleotides, and other chemicals in plants; nanozeolite and nanosensors incorporate Si-NPs and may be effectively used in agriculture for increasing the water retention of soil and for soil monitoring, respectively (Fig. 1).
Why is nano silica used? ›
The use of nanosilica (crystalline SiO2) reduces the volume of cement and completes the grading curve of the aggregate mix in the zone of the smallest sizes. Its purpose is to produce a filler effect, that is, to fill in gaps and, consequently, increase the compactness of the concrete.
What are the uses of silicon dioxide nanoparticles? ›
The chief applications of nanosilica are as an additive for the manufacture of rubber and plastics; as a strengthening filler for concrete and other construction composites; and as a stable, non-toxic platform for biomedical applications such as drug delivery and theranostics.
Are silica nanoparticles safe? ›
Silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NPs) of varying forms and properties are produced by physical, biogenic, and anthropogenic processes. In the context of human health, exposure to these nanoparticles is known to induce a range of harmful effects and pathologies.
What are the future uses of silica? ›
Silica nanoparticles (SNPs) have shown great applicability potential in a number of fields like chemical, biomedical, biotechnology, agriculture, environmental remediation and even wastewater purification.
What are 5 uses of nano materials? ›
Nanoparticles are now being used in the manufacture of scratchproof eyeglasses, crack- resistant paints, anti-graffiti coatings for walls, transparent sunscreens, stain-repellent fabrics, self-cleaning windows and ceramic coatings for solar cells.
How to produce silica nanoparticles? ›
Typically, two microemulsions containing two different reactants are mixed in the microemulsion method to synthesize silica nanoparticles, and the reaction between the reactants is triggered by the collision of micellar droplets in the system, which leads to the nucleation and growth of silica nanoparticles [8], [9].
What are the four application of silicon? ›
Silicon is one of the most useful elements to mankind. Most is used to make alloys including aluminium-silicon and ferro-silicon (iron-silicon). These are used to make dynamo and transformer plates, engine blocks, cylinder heads and machine tools and to deoxidise steel. Silicon is also used to make silicones.
Silica nanoparticles constitute silica mesopores (2–50 nm diameter of pores) with distinct physicochemical features. Nanohelices, nanozigzags, nanotubes, and nanoribbons are examples of nanocarriers that may be made in various sizes and forms.
What is a silica nanoparticle? ›
Colloidal silica (silicon dioxide) nanoparticles are amorphous materials and are generally spherical in shape. They can be made to have a broad range of sizes and their surface chemistry easily modified to target a variety of applications.
Are silica nanoparticles used in drug delivery? ›
The physical and chemical properties of SNP such as large specific surface area, tuneable particle size and porosity, excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility make them an ideal drug delivery and diagnostic platform.
What are the advantages of silica nanoparticles over silica? ›
In summary, silica nanoparticles are ideal for nanomedicine and biomaterials research due to their various morphologies, facile chemical modification, tunable pore size and porosity, biocompatibility, tunable stability and biodegradability, and theranostic potential.
What are the application of silica nanoparticles in agriculture? ›
The comprehensive features of SiNPs permit them to give plants more resistance against abiotic and biotic stresses. Silica nanoparticles have been reported to be utilized as fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides, as well as a new agent towards heavy metal impacts, salt stress, and drought stress.
What are 5 things silicon is used for? ›
Highly purified silicon, doped (infused) with such elements as boron, phosphorus, and arsenic, is commonly known as a silicon wafer and is the basic material used in computer chips, integrated circuits, transistors, silicon diodes, liquid crystal displays, and various other electronic and switching devices.
What are 3 ways we use silica that is mined from the earth? ›
Many industrial and commercial processes require crystalline silica. Some of the more notable uses for crystalline silica include glassmaking, road-building, molds for molten metals poured at foundries, hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," for oil and gas production, water filtration, and even electronics.
Why is silica used in industry? ›
It serves as a molding and core material due to its ability to withstand high temperatures, provide dimensional accuracy, and promote smooth casting surfaces. 2.3 Construction and Building Materials: Silica sand is an essential component in the construction industry.
What is a common application for fused silica? ›
Fused silica is a common glass type used in the optics industry to manufacture optical components such as lenses, windows, mirrors, prisms, and beamsplitters. Fused silica is often a preferred material for precision optics due to its consistent and repeatable optical performance.
What are the uses and application of silicon dioxide? ›
It is used primarily as a flow or anti-caking agent in powdered foods such as spices and non-dairy coffee creamer, or powders to be formed into pharmaceutical tablets. It can adsorb water in hygroscopic applications. Colloidal silica is used as a fining agent for wine, beer, and juice, with the E number reference E551.
Silica nanoparticles are commonly used as standards for instrumental method development, including single-particle ICP-MS (SP-ICP-MS). Silica presents unique challenges for ICP-MS characterization due to high background at the m/z value of silicon's most abundant isotope (28Si).