Dangling Bonds-Assisted Synthesis of Arborization Silica

Abstract

Novel arborization silica is fabricated with dangling bonds (Si-)-assisted growth manner by the hydrothermal method without any metallic catalyst and its surface morphology, microstructure and composition are characterized and analyzed. The results show that the samples display arborization morphology with amorphous structure and the average growth rate and average characteristic length of each branch are different. The branching degree of arborization silica is higher. The concentration of dangling bonds (Si-) may mainly influence silica morphology. The dangling bonds-assisted growth mechanism is proposed.