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05/30/2007 -
Colloidal Silica: Fundamentals and Applications (2006)
edited by Horacio E. Bergna and William O. Roberts
ISBN 0-8247-0967-5. CRC Press. 2006. Hardcover. 944 pages. $249.95.
This massive volume is a collective work written by 110 leading silica scientists from the United States, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, France, Ukraine, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Spain, and Russia. It is composed of 67 chapters and is divided into 12 parts as follows: general introduction, preparation of sols, stability of sols, surface chemistry of silica, particle size and characterization techniques, silica gels and powders, sol-gel technology, silica coatings, uses of colloidal silica, NMR of silica edge, research in Russia, analytical methods, and a 16-page index.
The first four chapters in 39 pages, written by editor Horacio Bergna, form an excellent introduction to the general reader. He starts with a general outline of colloid science, followed by the language of colloid science and silica chemistry, an overview of colloid chemistry of silica, and finally silicic acids and colloidal silica.
The book covers new information on colloid science related to silica chemistry, both the theoretical and the experimental aspects. According to the editors, the book reflects developments in the field since the well-known silica scientist Ralph K. Iler published his authoritative book The Chemistry of Silica: Solubility, Polymerization, Colloid and Surface Properties, and Biochemistry of Silica in 1979 and the American Chemical Society published Colloidal Chemistry of Silica in 1994. The book offers a detailed analysis of structure, surface chemistry, and surface energy of different silicas and describes the adsorptive properties and modification of porous silicas. It discusses properties and methods of characterization, synthesis, and preparation of silica in terms of industrial applications.
Following an analysis of the surface chemistry of various silicas, the book explores methods for measuring particle size and useful characterization techniques for determining structure, stability, and reactivity. The authors then focus on various studies, analytical methods, and current applications involving silica gels and powders, silica coatings, colloidal silica, and sol-gel technology. The book features up-to-date material relating to fields as diverse as catalysis, metallurgy, electronics, glass, ceramics, paper and pulp technology, optics, elastomers, food, health care, and industrial chromatography. The book will be of great interest to chemists in general and surface chemists in particular. It should be also of great help those not familiar with the subject. This voluminous and expensive book will find only its place on the shelves of libraries, but it could be very well divided into a number of smaller paper-back volumes that can be affordable to students. The book is well produced although some of the figures in Chapter 61 are rather dark. It seems to be free from typographical errors with the exception of a misspelling of Frumkin on page 861 and the arrows in the equations on page 531 are shown as the Greek letter capital omega.
Editor Horacio E. Bergna received his doctorate in chemistry from the National University of La Plata in Argentina while William O. Roberts received his doctorate from Syracuse University. Both are with DuPont Experimental Station at Wilmington, Delaware.
For more on Colloidal Silica: Fundamentals and Applications , visit the CRC Press web site.
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