Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

Background:

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are used in drug delivery due to their large surface area and pore

size. These nanoparticles have ability to act as a drug carrier for many types of medicine due to

low toxicity. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles have the ability to selectively target affected

cancerous tissues, while sparing normal tissues during treatment. Lastly, these nanoparticles are

able to load a large amount of medical drugs, again due to their large physical and pore size.

Materials:

Round Bottom Flask (1000 mL)

Hot Plate

1 g of CTAB (surfactant)

Oil Bath

Graduated Cylinder

Deionized Water

4 g of NaOH in 50 mL of H2O [2M]

Centrifuge Tubes

Centrifuge Machine

Sonicator

Syringe

Tetraethyl Orthosilicate

Procedure:

Part 1 - Create “ordered” and “structured” nanoparticles inside solution)

1. Fill round bottom flask with 480 mL of water and set in oil bath to heat (82.6 degrees

Celsius)

2. While round bottom flask is being heated, put 1 g of CTAB inside flask

3. Prepare a solution of 4 g of NaOH inside 50 mL of water, then put 3.5 mL of the solution

inside round bottom flask

4. Stir and heat for 45 minutes

5. Add 5 mL of TEO5 slowly into flask

6. Stir and heat for 2 h

Part 2 - Calculating concentration of nanoparticles in solution

7. Take solution inside round bottom flask, and put into centrifuge tubes, to then be placed

inside centrifuge machine

8. Place centrifuge tubes inside machine for 3 m at 13000 rpm, then dispose of any excess

ethanol

9. Fill up empty centrifuge tubes with ethanol up to the 20 mL mark, and then sonicate to

create homogeneous mixture

10. Repeat until left with 2 centrifuge tubes

11. Weigh 2 separate mini centrifuge tubes, for mass, and fill with solution from previous

centrifuge tubes.

12. Put in lyophilizer for 24 h to extract ethanol, then weight mini centrifuge tube to subtract

the final mass from the initial mass

Part 3 – Obtain Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

13. Replace ethanol with methanol inside centrifuge tubes, and then sonicate to disperse the

solid

14. Put solution inside a 200 mL round bottom flask and then add 11.52 mL of HCl

15. Heat solution at 60 degrees Celsius in oil bath.