Dielectric Study of Hydration Water in Silica Nanoparticles

The effect of water content on silica nanoparticles was examined by thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), broadband dielectric spectroscopy (from 10–2 to 107 Hz), and differential scanning calorimetry for a wide temperature range (110–250 K). Silica nanoparticles were dried and rehydrated at different water levels to determine the critical factors affecting the dielectric response. The dynamics of both hydration water and hydrated silanol groups were addressed. Whereas hydration water dynamics depend on the water content, the dynamics corresponding to hydrated silanol groups are almost water independent once the maximum hydroxylation level is reached. In addition, we determined that during hydration water molecules prefer to form clusters instead of filling a complete layer around the particles. Finally, we observed that contrary to other water containing systems, the corresponding relaxation times of water molecules do not show any crossover (from high-T super-Arrhenius to low-T Arrhenius behavior).