Maize Phytoliths and Photoluminescent Silica Nanotubes Prepared from a Natural Silica Resource

Maize leaves and sheaths are cheap agricultural byproducts that contain an abundance of amorphous hydrated silica (named phytoliths). However, there have been no attempts at utilizing the phytoliths to synthesize silica nanotubes. In this paper, we describe the morphologies and microstructures of ph...

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Published inIndustrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 50; no. 22; pp. 12521 - 12526
Main Authors Zhang, Congyun, Kang, Haitao, Lv, Kai, Chen, Hui, Yuan, Shiling
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Chemical Society 16.11.2011
Subjects
Applied sciences
Chemical engineering
Devices
Exact sciences and technology
Maize
Materials and Interfaces
Nanotubes
Photoluminescence
Sheaths
Silicon dioxide
Sodium
Sulfonates
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Summary:Maize leaves and sheaths are cheap agricultural byproducts that contain an abundance of amorphous hydrated silica (named phytoliths). However, there have been no attempts at utilizing the phytoliths to synthesize silica nanotubes. In this paper, we describe the morphologies and microstructures of phytoliths in leaves and sheaths of maize, and synthesize hollow silica nanotubes using the phytoliths in cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) /sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant system. TEM and SEM images show that the phytoliths exist in cross and dumbbell shapes in maize. The silica nanotubes obtained from the naturally deposited phytoliths exhibit special blue photoluminescence. This optical characteristic indicates that the agro-based waste materials may have potential applications in the fields of light localization and other integrated optical devices.
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ISSN:0888-5885
1520-5045
DOI:10.1021/ie2003768