Nanoporous Silica Gel as a Highly-Retentive Doping Substrate

Calibration Materials from Silica Gel and TitaniumMicroanalytical calibration materials can be synthesized from doped silica gel (or doped silica glass) with trace-level chemical precision (within 10 ppm of a target concentration) and acceptable homogeneity. The procedure begins by preparing a doping substrate (commercially available nanoporous silica gel) and then immersing it in a nonpolar liquid solvent medium. A dopant source (titanium) is added and the doped substrate is then hot-pressed to synthesize high-density glasses (quartz). The homogeneity of the resulting reference materials was shown to contain relatively uniform titanium (Ti) contents at the intra-grain, inter-grain and grain population scale. Reference materials synthesized by this technology may be suitable for geochemical analysis, bulk analysis and microanalysis with electron, laser and ion-beam techniques.Trace Element Doped GlassesDetermination of trace-element concentration in glass is important in a variety of fields. Most analytical instrumentation is comparative and therefore requires a sample of known composition (reference material) for accurate calibration. However, some of the current reference materials either become unavailable or are only available to a restricted group of people, while other synthetic materials available commercially or from institutions and research centers sometimes lack broad availability and/or acceptable characterization. This technology provides a cost-effective and relatively straightforward method to fabricate trace element doped glasses, resulting in a well-characterized reference material available to the entire micro-analytical community. Synthesizing glasses with very precise chemical compositions yields materials with precisely quantified compositions essential for calibrating analytical instruments. Advantages include using a commercially available, low-cost and chemically-inert doping substrate and a dopant source that is available for many different elements.BENEFITS AND FEATURES:Trace-level chemical precision (within 10 ppm of a target concentration)Substrate (glass) is commercially available, low-cost and chemically-inertAcceptable homogeneity: elements uniformly dispersed at the intra-grain, inter-grain and grain population scaleUses commercially available nanoporous silica gelMakes standards for many different elementsAPPLICATIONS:Reference materials for geochemical analysisCalibrating analytical instrumentsPrepare glasses for a wide variety of optical and industrial purposesAnalytical measurements requiring a sample of known composition (reference material) for accurate calibrationMicroanalytical calibration materialsForensic scienceArcheological chemistryPetrologyReference materials for elemental analysisConstruction industry, to determine chemical composition of alkali-resistant glass filaments used as reinforcing materialsSpecialty glassesPhase of Development - Working prototype

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