How to prepare hydrophobic silica aerogel?

Aerogel is a silica material that has attracted much attention today.

Internal network of aerogel

At present, the preparation of silica aerogel usually includes two main processes: sol-gel and drying

Conventional preparation process of aerogel

Hydrophobic aerogel

The following methods are usually used to prepare hydrophobic silica aerogels

01 Surface post-treatment method

Mechanism of solvent replacement/surface modification of SiOz gel with TMCS solution

2 In situ method

In-situ method, also known as copolymerization method or co-precursor method, refers to adding a chemical substance that can produce hydrophobic groups to the sol reaction system to carry out a sol-gel process, so that the hydrophobic groups react with the hydroxyl groups on the gel surface to form The hydrophobic group results in a hydrophobic aerogel

In-situ preparation process of hydrophobic silica aerogel

3 Chemical vapor deposition method

The chemical vapor deposition method is usually used to prepare hydrophobic aerogels.

4 Cold plasma improvement technology