High surface area fibrous silica nanoparticles
Disclosed are high surface area nanoparticles that have a fibrous morphology. The nanoparticles have a plurality of fibers, wherein each fiber is in contact with one other fiber and each fiber has a length of between about 1 nm and about 5000 nm. Also disclosed are applications of the nanoparticles of the present invention, and methods of fabrication of the nanoparticles of the present invention.
1. A spherical nanoparticle comprising a plurality of silica fibers that are radially oriented in the nanoparticle and that are covalently linked with each other through siloxane linkages, wherein
the nanoparticle has a diameter of between about 1 nm and about 5000 nm.
2. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticle is in the form of a dendrimer.
3. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber has a length of between about 1 nm and about 2500 nm.
4. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber has a thickness of between about 1 nm and about 25 nm.
5. The nanoparticle of claim 4 , wherein each fiber has a thickness of between about 1 nm to about 10 nm.
6. The nanoparticle of claim 5 , wherein each fiber has a length of between about 1 nm and about 2500 nm and a thickness of between about 1 nm and about 10 nm.
7. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the fibers are of varying thickness and varying lengths.
8. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the fibers are of a uniform thickness and a uniform length.
9. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticle is comprised of about 10 3 fibers to 10 6 fibers.
10. The nanoparticle of claim 9 , wherein the nanoparticle is comprised of at least about 10 4 fibers.
11. The nanoparticle of claim 10 , wherein the nanoparticle is comprised of at least about 10 5 fibers.
12. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticle is further defined as a nanosphere comprised of a plurality of fibers that are substantially radially oriented within the nanosphere.
13. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , further comprising one or more ligands attached to one or more fibers.
14. The nanoparticle of claim 13 , wherein a ligand is attached to the one or more fibers via a linker.
15. The nanoparticle of claim 14 , wherein the linker is an alkyl, a hydride, a carbene, a carbyne, a cyclopentadienyl, an alkoxide, an amido, or an imido group.
16. The nanoparticle of claim 13 , wherein the ligand is a catalyst, a drug, or an organic molecule.
17. The nanoparticle of claim 16 , wherein the ligand is a catalyst.
18. The nanoparticle of claim 17 , wherein the catalyst is a metal catalytic molecule.
19. The nanoparticle of claim 18 , wherein the metal catalytic molecule is a metal or a metal oxide.
20. The nanoparticle of claim 19 , wherein the metal catalytic molecule is a metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Pt, Pd, Ag, Ni, Ru, Rh, Ir, Os, Co, Fe and Cu.
21. The nanoparticle of claim 19 , wherein the metal catalytic molecule is a metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , CeO 2 , CuO, ZnO, SiO 2 , V2O 5 , MgO, La2O 3 , ZrO 2 , SnO 2 , MnO 2 , MoO 3 , Mo 2 O 5 and zeolites.
22. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticle has a maximum diameter of between about 100 nm and about 750 nm.
23. The nanoparticle of claim 22 , wherein the nanoparticle has a maximum diameter of between about 250 nm and about 500 nm.
24. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber has a length of between about 1 nm and about 500 nm.
25. A composition comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 .
26. A composite comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 .
27. A catalyst composition comprising a nanoparticle as set forth in claim 17 .
28. A kit comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 in one or more sealed containers.
29. The kit of claim 28 , wherein the nanoparticles are comprised in a chromatography column.
30. A chromatography column comprising a stationary phase comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 .
31. A drug delivery device comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 .
32. A packaging material comprising nanoparticles as set forth in claim 1 .
33. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber is in contact with at least one other fiber.
34. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber has a length of between about 1 nm and about 5000 nm.
35. The nanoparticle of claim 1 , wherein each fiber has a thickness of between about 1 nm to about 50 nm.