Silica materials and methods of making thereof
AssigneeUniversity of Virginia Patent Foundation
InventorsJong Ho Sonn, Pamela M. Norris
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are methods for the preparation of porous metal oxide materials, including metal oxide xerogels and metal oxide aerogels. Methods for preparing porous metal oxide materials can comprise (i) reacting a metal alkoxide with water in the presence of a catalyst system to form a partially hydrolyzed sol, (ii) contacting the partially hydrolyzed sol with a base catalyst and a non-aqueous solvent to form a precursor gel; and (iii) drying the precursor gel to form the porous metal oxide material. The catalyst system employed in step (i) comprises a combination of a weak acid and a strong acid.
Claims19
A method for preparing a porous metal oxide material comprising:
- (i) reacting a metal alkoxide with water in the presence of a catalyst system to form a partially hydrolyzed sol, wherein the catalyst system comprises a strong acid and a weak acid;
- (ii) contacting the partially hydrolyzed sol with a base catalyst and an alcohol to form a precursor gel;
- and
- (iii) drying the precursor gel to form the porous metal oxide material;
- wherein the weak acid and the strong acid are present in a molar ratio of weak acid:strong acid of from 1:1 to 200:1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.