Synthesis of new flexible aerogels from MTMS/DMDMS via ambient pressure drying

Although silica aerogel is expected to be the material for energy savings, the lack of the strength prevents from commercial applications such as to low-density thermal insulators and acoustic absorbents. To improve mechanical properties, methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS) are used as the co-precursor of aerogels in this study because the network becomes flexible due to the relatively low cross-linking density and to the unreacted methyl groups. Because of the strong hydrophobicity of MTMS/DMDMS-derived condensates, phase separation occurs, which must be suppressed in aqueous sol to obtain uniform and monolithic gel networks. We also employed surfactant n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) in starting compositions to control phase separation during a 2-step acid/base sol-gel reaction. By changing the starting composition, various microstructures of pores are obtained. In the uniaxial compression test, the aerogel showed high flexibility and spring-back to the original shape after removing the stress.