Preparation of TiO2 Aerogels by Ambient Pressure Drying

TiO2 aerogels were prepared by sol-gel method at ambient pressure using tetrabutyl titanate as raw material, formamide as drying control chemical additive, tetralthyl orthosilcate(TEOS)/ethanol as pore fluids extractant. The structural properties of aerogel samples were characterized by means of XRD, BET, TEM, SEM, EDS and FT-IR, etc. Experimental results show that asa2prepared TiO2 aerogel is in amorphous state with the apparent density of 0.375g/cm3, the specific surface area of 523m2/g and the average pore size of about 9.9nm. After calcinated at 850 n air for 4h, the sampletransforms from amorphous state to anatasea2type crystal, while its ˉ pore volume shrinks and average pore size increases to 16.3nm, the specific surface area reduces to 208m2/g. TiO2 aerogel prepared by the above method presents excellent thermal stability and high specific surface area.