Pore Structure Characterization of TiO2-SiO2 Composite Aerogel Prepared via Ambient Pressure Drying by Sol Pre-Modification Process
In this paper, TiO2-SiO2composite aerogels were prepared via ambient pressure drying by sol-gel and sol pre-modification method. The pre-modification solution consists of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) as buffering agent, trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) as modifier and hexane as organic solvent. The pore structure of TiO2-SiO2composite aerogels was characterized by N2adsorption-desorption method. The effects of HMDSO/TMCS volume ratio on the pore structure and properties of TiO2-SiO2composite aerogel were studied. The results indicate that the pre-modification of TiO2-SiO2composite sol by adding HMDSO/TMCS/Hexane solution could shorten the preparation period. Increasing the amount of HMDSO is favorable for obtaining TiO2-SiO2composite aerogel with higher specific surface area and pore volume. The best volume ratio of HMDSO/TMCS/composite sol for preparing mesoporous TiO2-SiO2composite aerogels were 12:6:120 and 12:12:120, with which the specific surface area and pore volume of the obtained TiO2-SiO2composite aerogel are 425.2~645.4 m2/g and 0.80~2.85 m3/g, respectively.