Synthesis and micro structural investigations of titania–silica nano composite aerogels

Photocatalytic performance of highly amorphous titania–silica aerogels with mesopores: The adverse effect of the in situ adsorption of some organic substrates during photodegradation

“…However,the adsorption of the substrate may affect its catalytic efficiency, as detailed in the next paragraph.The comparison of our catalyststo other aerogels presented in the literature is problematic, because of the differences in the applied light-sources and experimental conditions. However, we foundthat the catalytic efficiencies and reaction ratesreportedpreviously with compositeaerogels [10,22,25,50] are very similarto our results.…”

“…Powder X-ray diffraction. No characteristic peaks of crystalline quartz or titanium dioxide forms [22] were found in any of the diffractograms of the three aerogel samples as seen in Figure S5 in theSupporting Information. This indicates the highly amorphous structure of the studied aerogels.…”

“…[14]The photocatalytic activity of mesoporous titania and titania-silica composites synthesized by the sol-gel method is recently a hot topic of materials research. [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]Pure titania aerogels were shown to be more efficient photocatalysts than titania-silica aerogels.However, it should be emphasized, thatcomposite aerogels usually lack the structural homogeneity of TiO 2 and SiO 2 phases on the atomic scale. [23,24] In other words, some micro-or nanocrystalline TiO 2 , usually in the form of anatase, is always present dispersed in the structure, and this crystalline phase is responsible for the photocatalytic effect.In this work we present a family of titaniasilica aerogels in which no crystalline TiO 2 can be detected by X-ray diffraction methods.…”

Microwave assisted synthesis of high surface area TiO 2 aerogels: A competent photoanode material for quasi-solid dye-sensitized solar cells

“…Recently, we reported the effect of plasma treatment on the structural and surface properties of TiO 2 aerogel, their overall influence on DSSC performance [27,28]. The microstructure of SiO 2 -TiO 2 hybrid aerogels were studied and used as a photoanode in DSSC [29,30]. The microstructure and morphology of the aerogel are governed by the threedimensional network formations during sol-gel synthesis.…”

Synthesis of Conductive PPy/SiO2 Aerogels Nanocomposites by In Situ Polymerization of Pyrrole

“…These materials, which exhibit porosity between 95 and 99%, are comprised of a mesoporous nanostructure of interconnected particles having unique characteristics, such as high surface area, low density, and low thermal conductivity [1,2]. Various strategies have been used to develop composites of silica aerogels with a variety of dispersed nanostructures, such as TiO 2 , Pt, Au, RuO 2 , SnO 2 , and carbon nanotubes [3][4][5]. Therefore, it is possible to design new materials for a given application, combining the properties of silica aerogel with the desirable properties of the embedded material.…”