One major advantage of the Stöber process is that it can produce silica particles that are nearly monodisperse, and thus provides an ideal model for use in studying colloidal phenomena. It was a pioneering discovery when first published, allowing synthesis of spherical monodisperse silica particles of controlled sizes, and in 2015 remains the most widely used wet chemistry approach to silica nanoparticles.
The process provides a convenient approach to preparing silica nanoparticles for applications including intracellular drug delivery and biosensing. The mesoporous silica nanoparticles prepared by modified Stöber processes have applications in the field of catalysis and liquid chromatography. In addition to monodispersity, these materials have very large surface areas as well as uniform, tunable, and highly ordered pore structures, which makes mesoporous silica uniquely attractive for these applications.