Preparation of Functional Silica Aerogels Using Ionic Liquids as Solvents

摘要

A new methodology has been developed to prepare functional silica aerogels using ionic liquids. This methodology makes use of the unique solvent properties of ionic liquids (negligible vapor pressure and ionicity), allowing application of long aging times without macroscopic phase segregation between ionic liquids and the silica network. The long ambient aging time also ensures development of stable silica networks so that the ionic liquids can be extracted and dried without collapse of the silica network.