Supplementary information
Fig.S1 shows the results of the TEM measurements of particles with and without surface functionalization.
Water-based dispersions from as-synthesized particles and Silica-1SF appeared to be composed of agglomerates,
whereas Silica-2SF in water and Silica-3SF in toluene could be homogeneously dispersed after functionalization.
The images show that the dispersions are mostly composed of primary particles with sizes from 5 to 30 nm. The
particle sizes determined by TEM are slightly smaller than those determined by DLS, which is due to the fact
that TEM shows the silica core while DLS measures the hydrodynamic diameter of the coated particles including
an influence of the solvent envelope as discussed before.
Fig. S1 TEM images of dispersions with as-synthesized in water (a) and surface functionalized silica nanoparticles
(Silica-1SF in water (b), Silica-2SF in water (c) Silica-3SF in toluene (d)). Insets represent particle size
distribution histogram of the Silica-2SF (mean diameter = 28.9 ± 5.9 nm) and Silica-3SF (mean diameter=
25.5 ± 6.8 nm).