P. B. Wagh

Water repellent porous silica films by sol-gel dip coating method

The wetting of solid surfaces by water droplets is ubiquitous in our daily lives as well as in industrial processes. In the present research work, water repellent porous silica films are prepared on glass substrate at room temperature by sol-gel process. The coating sol was prepared by keeping the molar ratio of methyltriethoxysilane (MTES), methanol (MeOH), water (H(2)O) constant at 1:12.90:4.74, respectively, with 2M NH(4)OH throughout the experiments and the molar ratio (M) of MTES/Ph-TMS was varied from 0 to 0.22. A simple dip coating technique is adopted to coat silica films on the glass substrates. The static water contact angle as high as 164° and water sliding angle as low as 4° was obtained for silica film prepared from M=0.22. The surface morphological studies of the prepared silica film showed the porous structure with pore sizes typically ranging from 200nm to 1.3μm. The superhydrophobic silica films prepared from M=0.22 retained their superhydrophobicity up to a temperature of 285°C and above this temperature the films became superhydrophilic. The porous and water repellent silica films are prepared by proper alteration of the Ph-TMS in the coating solution. The prepared silica films were characterized by surface profilometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, humidity tests, chemical aging tests, static and dynamic water contact angle measurements.

Effect of concentration of trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) silylating agents on surface free energy of silica aerogels

The surface free energy of a solid determines its surface and interfacial behavior in processes like wetting and adhesion which is crucial for silica aerogels in case of organic liquid absorption and transportation of chemicals at nano-scale for biotechnological applications. Here, we have demonstrated that the surface free energy of aerogels can be tuned in wide range from 5.5892 to 0.3073 mJ/m(2) by modifying their surface using TMCS and HMDZ silylating reagents. The alcogels were prepared by two step acid-base catalyzed process where the molar ratio of precursors Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS):Methanol (MeOH):Oxalic acid:NH(4)OH:NH(4)F was kept at optimal value of 1:2.7:0.18×10(-4):0.02:0.22×10(-3), respectively. To modify gel surfaces, TMCS and HMDZ concentration have been varied from 3% to 12% and such alcogels were dried at ambient pressure. It is observed from FTIR for aerogels that increase in concentration of silylating reagent resulted increase in hydrophobicity. This leads to increase in contact angle for water from 123° to 155° but leads to decrease in surface free energy from 5.5892 to 0.3073 mJ/m(2). As there is not direct method, we have used Neumanns equation of state to estimate surface energy of aerogels.

Durability and restoring of superhydrophobic properties in silica-based coatings

The durability and restorable properties of superhydrophobicity are a most important issue essential for utilization of superhydrophobic materials in industrial and domestic fields. In this work, we have focused on the sol-gel dip coating synthesis, durability, and restoring properties of a superhydrophobic surface composed of spherical silica particles with low energy free surface successfully achieved on the surface of glass substrates. The water contact angle (WCA) of the as-prepared superhydrophobic coatings reached as high as 170±1° (WCA=170±1°) and the sliding angle was 3±1° (WSA=3±1°). The behavior of wettability on superhydrophobic coating surface under various external disturbances including outdoor environments, heat, and mild acidic condition is investigated. It is shown in particular that degradation and repairing of surface methyl groups between two such surfaces leads to a fully restorable coating surface by the surface modification with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) at room temperature. The coating also holds good thermal stability; it holds superhydrophobicity up to 550 °C and gets degrade into superhydrophilicity above 600 °C without deforming surface morphology. The results confirm the durability of the silica coating under different external disturbances and sol-gel dip coating method and restoring property provide the best solution to fabricate superhydrophobic silica coating surface with extended durability at low cost.

Effect of surface composition and roughness on the apparent surface free energy of silica aerogel materials

Surface chemical composition and morphology play an important role in determining the superhydrophobic behavior of solids. To provide insights on the influence of surface chemical composition and roughness on superhydrophobic behaviour of tetramethoxysilane based silica aerogel materials over a wide range, we have carried out a quantitative study of the effect of hydrophobic agent on contact angle and surface free energy of silica aerogels. The apparent surface free energy values were calculated using Zisman method and validated by Fowkes-Girifalco-Good theory.

Synthesis of transparent and hydrophobic TMOS based silica aerogels

In this paper, the preparation of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) based silica aerogels, by sol-gel process with varying the molar ratio of silylating agent are reported. The optimal molar ratio of precursors TMOS: MeOH: NH4OH was kept constant at 5:14.2:0.93 × 10-4, respectively, and concentration of silylating agent, hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) were varied from 2% to 12% of the solvent. The retrieved aerogels have been characterized by apparent density, % porosity, Thermal conductivity, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermo-gravimetric and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA-DSC) and contact angle measurements. The effect of humidity on silica aerogels has been studied. The thermal analysis indicates thermal stability of hydrophobicity retains up to 329 °C.

Methyltrimethoxysilane based flexible silica aerogels for oil absorption applications

The experimental results on the synthesis of flexible and superhydrophobic silica aerogels using methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) precursor by a two-step (acid-base) sol-gel process followed by the supercritical drying are reported. The effects of various sol-gel parameters on the flexibility of the aerogels have been investigated. The aerogels of different densities were obtained by varying the molar ratio of MeOH/MTMS(S) from 14 to 35, with lower densities for larger S values. It has been observed that the Youngs modulus (Y) decreased from 14.11 × 104 to 3.43×104 N/m2 with the decrease in the density of the aerogels from 100 to 40 kg/m3. Simultaneously, the aerogels are superhydrophobic with a contact angle as high as 169°. The superhydrophobic aerogels are thermally stable up to a temperature of 463 K, above which they become hydrophilic. The aerogels have been characterized by bulk density, percentage volume shrinkage, and porosity measurements. The microstructures of the aerogels have been studied usin...

Synthesis of nanosized platinum based catalyst using sol-gel process

The nano-sized platinum based catalysts using high surface area silica support have been prepared by sol-gel method. Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) diluted in methanol was hydrolyzed to form a porous silica gel. Platinum (2%) was loaded at sol state using platinum chloride solution. After gelation, the solvent from the gel pores was extracted at ambient temperature which resulted in porous silica matrix incorporated with nanosized platinum. X-ray diffraction studies indicated the presence of elemental platinum in the silica-platinum composites. Transmission electron microscopy of the platinum -silica composites revealed that nanosized platinum particles of about 5-10 nm are homogeneously dispersed in silica matrix. Chemisorptions studies showed high dispersion (more than 50%) of platinum on silica support with specific surface area of 400 m2/g which puts them as promising candidates as catalyst in heterogeneous reactions.

Surfactant doped silica aerogels dried at supercritical pressure

By combining the molecular silica precursor methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) with methanol, water and Tween-80 solution, we get surfactant-doped silica alcogels. The wet alcogels can be exchanged with methanol and then supercritically extracted with nitrogen to produce surfactant-doped silica aerogels (SDSAs). SDSAs represent a new class of aerogels that are composed of aggregated submicron porous particles that have tunable interparticle nanoporosity. As we increased the percentage of surfactant, the physical properties of silica aerogels changes. In this study we characterized the SDSAs by SEM for morphological study, FTIR for the material composition, contact angle for hydrophobicity determination and thermal conductivity measurements are carried out for thermal insulation application.

Synthesis and physico-chemical properties of organic aerogels

Basically, an organic aerogel is any aerogel with a framework consists of organic polymers. The organic aerogels are fabricated by the sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol with formaldehyde, followed by exchanging with acetone, and then with liquid CO2 and drying under CO2 supercritical conditions. The organic aerogels obtained by this process exhibits themselves as an insulators i.e. they possesses high resistance to the flow of current through them. These obtained aerogels when heated at elevated temperatures of about 1100 °C they becomes conducting, demonstrates themselves a low resistance of the order of 4Ω.