Shivaji University

About: Shivaji University is a education organization based out in Kolhāpur, Maharashtra, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Thin film & Scanning electron microscope. The organization has 3078 authors who have published 5295 publications receiving 115397 citations.

Effect of preparation conditions on the physical and hydrophobic properties of two step processed ambient pressure dried silica aerogels

Abstract: The experimental results on the physical and hydrophobic properties of the ambient pressure dried silica aerogels as a function of sol-gel and drying conditions, are reported.The aerogels have been produced by a two stage (acidic and basic) catalytic sol-gel process using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) precursor, oxalic acid (OXA) and ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) catalysts, ethanol (EtOH) solvent and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) silylating agent at 200∘C.The molar ratios of HMDZ/TEOS (M), OXA/TEOS (A) NH4OH/TEOS (B), acidic H2O/TEOS (Wa) basic H2O/TEOS (Wb), EtOH/TEOS (S) were varied from 0.09 to 0.9, 3.115 × 10− 5 to 3.115 × 10−3, 4 × 10− 3 to 8 × 10− 2, 2 to 9, 1.25 to 5 and 1 to 16 respectively. The physical properties such as the percentage (%) of volume shrinkage, density, thermal conductivity, percentage of porosity, the percentage of optical transmission and contact angle have been found to be strongly dependent on the sol-gel parameters. It was found from the FTIR spectra of the aerogels that with the increase of M, the bands at 3500 and 1600 cm− 1 corresponding to H-OH and Si-OH respectively decreased and the bands at 840 and 1250 cm− 1 due to Si-C and 2900 and 1450 cm−1 due to C-H increased. The best quality silica aerogels in terms of low density, low volume shrinkage, low thermal conductivity, high hydrophobicity and high optical transmission have been obtained with the molar ratio of TEOS:EtOH:acidicH2O:basicH2O:OXA:NH4OH:HMDZ at 1:8:3.75:2.25:6.23 × 10− 5: 4 × 10− 2:0.36 respectively, by ambient pressure dried method.

Comparative studies on the surface chemical modification of silica aerogels based on various organosilane compounds of the type RnSiX4−n

Abstract: We report the experimental results dealing with the surface chemical modification of silica aerogels using various precursors and co-precursors based on mono-, di-, tri- and tetrafunctional organosilane compounds of the type RnSiX4−n (where R = alkyl or aryl groups, X = Cl or alkoxy groups, n = 0–4). The precursors exhibit either tetrafunctional or trifunctional chemical functions while the co-precursors have a number of functional groups varying from 1 to 3. The organosilane based on the methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) can be used as a precursor as well as co-precursor. The chemically modified aerogels have been produced by (i) co-precursor, and (ii) derivatization methods. The co-precursor method results in aerogels with higher contact angle (θ ≈ 136°) but the aerogels are opaque, whereas transparent (>80% optical transmission in the visible range) aerogels with lower contact angle (θ ≈ 120°) are obtained using the derivatization method. The hydrophobicity of the phenyl-modified aerogels has been found to be thermally stable up to a temperature of 520 °C. Using the MTMS precursor, aerogels with contact angles as high as 175° have been obtained, but the aerogels are opaque. The aerogels obtained using TEOS precursor along with the trimethylethoxysilane (TMES) co-precursor, show negligible volume shrinkage. Water intrusion into the MTMS-modified aerogels at pressures greater than the Laplace pressure exhibits hysteresis, as shown in the pressure-volume curves. Water droplets placed on surfaces coated with superhydrophobic aerogel powder with 8° of inclination showed velocities as high as 0.4 ms−1. The results are discussed with respect to the ratios of organic and inorganic components of the organosilane compounds.