Crystalline silica prepared at room temperature from aqueous solution in the presence of intrasilica bioextracts

Abstract

Silica, exhibiting crystalline texture has been prepared from aqueous solution at pH ca. 7 in the presence of intrasilica biomolecules extracted from the primitive plant Equisetum telmateia; some of the silica shows interplanar lattice spacings of 3.5 Å and is present in lath-like objects up to ca. 20–30 nm wide and more than 100 nm in length; an electron diffraction pattern obtained from this material also shows interplanar spacings of 3.46, 2.13 and 1.70 Å suggesting that the material might be quartz.