The effect of using solvent medium in the ultrasonication of silica precipitates

Abstract

In this study, further processing of silica precipitated from sodium silicate was carried out using an ultrasonic transducer. The ultrasonication process was carried out with the aim to obtain smaller particles and uniform distribution of silica precipitated. The ultrasonication process was carried out using three solvents medium in water, ethanol, and ethylene glycol. The effect of solvents used on the distribution and particle size of silica precipitated was observed using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX) and Particle Size Analyzer (PSA). From the results of observations using FE-SEM, it was shown that the ultrasonication of silica precipitates with water has the greatest influence on particle size and distribution. While the analysis using PSA did not show any size reduction due to the agglomeration between the particles. The smallest particle size that could be obtained from this process is about 17 nm with average value of 88 nm.