PRODUCTION OF MODIFIED MONOLITH SILICA NANOCOMPOSITE AEROGEL

Abstract

Production of water-repellent modified silica aerogel with a high surface area and extremely low-density is a target of this study, considers a novel solution for oil spills clean-up in the last years. Super hydrophobic monolith structure of modified silica aerogel samples with very low-density and high surface area have been successfully synthesized via a novel modified sol-gel preparation route under ambient pressure drying by using Tetraethyl orthosilicate/Triethoxy(vinyl)silane/Ethylene glycol as a precursor. By studying different parameters, the oil adsorption capacity was enhanced to reach 7 times from a weight of aerogel. Also, by doping silver, the antimicrobial activity was enhanced in order to prevent the biofilms and keep the oil adsorption efficiency. All samples were expected to be a promising absorbent candidate in order to apply it in oil spill clean-up applications.