Rogé V., Staropoli M., Moretto E., Michel M., Arl D., Duez B., Steiner P., Addiego F., Grysan P., Lenoble D., Thomann J.S.
Materials and Design, vol. 269, art. no. 116766, 2026
This work discloses a pilot-scale synthesis process allowing the growth of monodispersed silica (SiO<sub>2</sub>) nanorods, using cost effective and nontoxic reactants only. Water is here the only solvent used, with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTACl) micelles acting as soft templates to control the anisotropic growth of SiO<sub>2</sub>. The abundant, inexpensive, and non-toxic sodium metasilicate precursor is used as a silicon source, allowing the consideration of this synthesis process for the industrial preparation of monodisperse SiO<sub>2</sub> nanorods. We demonstrate the process’ versatility in a pre-industrial 50 L large-scale reactor and display its robustness to repeatedly synthesise anisotropic SiO<sub>2</sub> nanorods with controlled lengths and widths. The added value of those anisotropic SiO<sub>2</sub> structures has been studied in model rubber compounds. We show that SiO<sub>2</sub> nanorods led to a reduction of filler agglomeration, resulting in an increase of the tanδ magnitude, a longer elongation at break and a decrease of the elastic modulus.
