Fabrication

Chemical Reagents

  • 5 mM HOAc aq.: 1500 mL
  • urea: 500 g
  • n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC): 100 g
  • tri-functional alkoxysilane: 2.1 mol
  • di-functional alkoxysilane: 1.4 mol

Process

  1. Mixing alkoxysilanes, urea, and CTAC in a dilute aqueous acetic acid solution in closed container, and stirring for 60 min at RT to promote hydrolysis.
  2. Transferring the container to an oven for gelation and aging at 80 °C over 6 hours.
  3. Washing with methanol.
  4. Evaporative drying under ambient conditions.

Reference

  1. Hayase, G.; Kanamori, K.; Nakanishi, K. New Flexible Aerogels and Xerogels Derived from Methyltrimethoxysilane/dimethyldimethoxysilane Co-Precursors. J. Mater. Chem. 2011, 21, 17077–17079. doi:10.1039/C1JM13664J