Current article

Preparing Mesoporous Silica Aerogels from Diatomite


Wang Baomin,Song Kai,Han Yu,Zhang Tingting and Wang Lijiu

DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1674-4764.2013.02.023

Received ,Revised , Accepted , Available online July 01, 2015

Volume ,2013,Pages 141-146

  • Abstract
Response surface methodology was adopted to optimize waterglass preparation process, and silica aerogels were synthesized under ambient pressure drying with optimum condition. Experimental results show the optimum conditions are: alkali silica ratio 3∶10, alkalinity 10%, and reaction temperature 90 ℃. The morphology structure and other properties of silica aerogel based on diatomite were characterized by N2 physical adsorption, XRD, FESEM, TEM, FTIR and TG/SDTA measurement. The results indicate that silica aerogel is crack free amorphous state solid, with the density 0.132~0.143 g/m3 and the specific surface area 755.5 m2/g, and it exhibits a sponge structure and a narrow pore size distribution. In addition, the hydrophobicity of aerogel can maintain up to 400 ℃。