D. Loy, K. Shea, E. M. Russick
1992
Citations
0
Influential Citations
11
Citations
Journal
MRS Proceedings
Abstract
We report the preparation of a new class of organic/inorganic hybrid aerogels from aryl-bridged polysilsesquioxanes. 1,4- Bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene and 4,4{prime}-bis(triethoxysilyl)- biphenyl were sol-gel processed to form phenyl- and biphenyl-bridged polysilsesquioxane gels. The gels were then dried using supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. It was discovered that aryl-bridged polysilsesquioxane aerogels are indeed formed, but with a pronounced influence on surface area from the reaction conditions used in preparing the initial gels. Specifically, high surface area aerogels (up to 1750 m{sup 2}/g) are obtained from gels prepared with either acid or base catalysts. With reduced concentrations of base catalyst, however, supercritical processing afforded phenyl-bridge xerogel-like materials. The materials were characterized by nitrogen sorption surface analysis and by transmission electron microscopy. 8 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.