Transfers of colloidal silica from water into organic solvents of intermediate polarities

Dispersions of discrete metal-oxide submicroparticles in organic solvents of medium polarities are uneasy to generate and weakly documented. We address this topic along two general methods focusing on silica. Successive transfers of colloidal particles from water into n-propanol and then into 1,2-dichloroethane by azeotropic distillation yield a stable organosol. The particles are found to be propanol-coated by surface esterification to the extent of 0.40 nm(2) per molecule. Alternatively, centrifugation-redispersion cycles make it possible to obtain stable suspensions of unaltered silica in methanol and acetonitrile starting from an aqueous silicasol. Particles are characterized by various methods including nitrogen adsorption, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and electrophoresis. The stabilities of these suspensions in various organic solvents are investigated with special concern for the role of residual water. Stabilization of silica in methanol is inconspicuously related to solvent permittivity and prominently dependent on the presence of adsorbed water. In contrast, the acetonitrile silicasol, which is unaffected by residual water, displays electrophoretic behavior compatible with electrostatic stabilization. (C) 1998 Academic Press.