Nanoscale Ga particles down to 5 nm were fabricated by an explosion via an in situ electron-beam irradiation on microscale silica-covered Ga balls in a transmission electron microscope. The explosion is confirmed to be a Coulomb explosion because it occurs on the surface rather than in the whole body of the insulating silica-covered Ga micro-balls, and on the pure Ga nano-balls on the edge of c...

Spherical silica particles that are able to assemble at a phase boundary of a dual-phase mixture of water and an immiscible organic solvent were prepared by a partial modification of their surface hydroxyl groups with an alkylsilylation agent. Scanning electron microscopic observation of these particles in which their remaining surface hydroxyl groups had been selectively modified with colloida...

background: silica aerogel is the nano-porous form silica which is the lightest synthetic solid material. some specific properties of this material include high surface area (1500 m2.g-1), low density (< 0.03 g.cm-3) and high porosity (%99). in this research, silica aerogel was investigated as an adsorbent of the heavy metal cations in aqueous solutions. methods: the silica aerogel was synthesi...

Colloidal silica bonded refractory castables have been developed recently. It was found that colloidal silica is one of the best binders can substitute other binders such as cement in No Cement Castable (NCC) and Ultra Low Cement Castable (ULCC) refractories. Also composition of colloidal silica with appropriate additives resulted in a gel form which makes the initial strength. Moreover, the na...

Sessile water droplets containing nano-silica particles are allowed to evaporate in the presence of driven substrate oscillations at chosen frequencies. Different mode shapes are observed at different oscillation frequencies. As reference, the evaporation of the same droplets is also observed under stationary conditions i.e. in the absence of any oscillations. For all cases, the deposit structu...

Biomineralization processes leading to complex solid structures of inorganic material in biological systems are constantly gaining attention in biotechnology and biomedical research. An outstanding example for biomineral morphogenesis is the formation of highly elaborate, nano-patterned silica shells by diatoms. Among the organic macromolecules that have been closely linked to the tightly contr...