Organic Surface Modification of TEOS Based Silica Aerogels Synthesized by Co-Precursor and Derivatization Methods

Large deformation of chlorotrimethylsilane treated silica aerogels

“…Work has been done using various silanes [6] to modify the silica surface, both reducing the surface tension as the pore fluid evaporates and preventing adjacent silica surfaces from bonding during drying. In particular, chlorotrimethylsilane (CTMS) has been shown to drastically reduce the shrinkage of silica aerogels derived from sodium silicate [6] and tetraethylorthosilicate [7].To date, no studies have been found that have explored the effect of CTMS surface treatment on the mechanical properties of silica aerogels, except in so far as data for shrinkage during drying are reported [6][7][8]. In this work, we use chlorotrimethylsilane to modify silica aerogels in order to gain dramatic improvements in strain and stress to failure, as well as enhanced resistance to sintering.…”

Methyltriethoxysilane: New precursor for synthesizing silica aerogels

“…Conventionally, for the preparation of silica aerogels, silicon alkoxides such as tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), trimethylmethoxysilane (TMMS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), were used as precursors [14][15][16][17][18]. There are several reports on silica aerogels based on various precursors mentioned 0925-8388/$ -see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.…”

Absorption and desorption of organic liquids in elastic superhydrophobic silica aerogels

“…The major obstacle is the collapse of their structure due to the absorption of water [11]. This has been overcome by the surface chemical modification of the aerogel by either the coprecursor method or the derivatization method [12,13]. In the present study, we have used the elastic superhydrophobic silica aerogels synthesized using methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as the precursor, which also acts as a co-precursor, by the twostep sol-gel process [14].…”