Monomer-Addition Growth with a Slow Initiation Step: A Growth Model for Silica Particles from Alkoxides

A simplified monomer-addition model with a first-order activation step is developed to describe the dynamics of growth of silica particles from alkoxides. In the fimit of slow hydrolysis, we obtain expressions for the evolution of the particle mass and particle polydispersity, as well as an expression for the particle size as a function of the hydrolysis rate constant, the polymerization rate constant, and the initial concentration of the orthosilicate. We find that the formation of the particles is adequately modeled by a reaction limited growth. © 1989 Academic Press, Inc.