One-step eco-friendly fabrication of classically monolithic silica aerogels via water solvent system and ambient pressure drying

We developed an eco-friendly method to facilely prepare the good-formability methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS)-based silica aerogels via water solvent system and ambient pressure drying in one-step. In the whole procedure, water was used not only as a reaction agent but also as a solvent, avoiding the expensive cost and environmental pollution caused by solvent exchange. The structural properties of MTMS-based silica aerogels were characterized by the scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller methods. The results indicated that compared with other silica aerogels prepared by traditional water solvent methods, this MTMS-based silica aerogels had the classic nanostructure with the high specific surface area of 450m(2)/g as well as hydrophobic property.