SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION OF AMORPHOUS SILICA - A REVIEW OF WORK FROM THE FORMER USSR

A survey is presented of the research results obtained by the author on the properties of amorphous silica. It covers the following topics: physically adsorbed water; dehydration of the surface and the temperature boundary of this process; dehydroxylation of the surface; concentration of hydroxyl groups on the silica surface, depending on the conditions of activation of silica; the energetic non-uniformity of the surface; chemisorption of water (rehydroxylation of the surface); the difference between the hydroxyl groups on the silica surface and structurally bound water inside the silica particles. For each of these processes a probable mechanism is suggested.