Synthesis and Characterization of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube Doped Silica Aerogels

Multi-walled carbon nanotube doped silica aerogels(MWCNT-SAs) were synthesized from a wet gel of well-dispersed MWCNT by one-step solvent exchange/surface modification and ambient pressure drying(APD). Waterglass was employed as a precursor to prepare wet gel. The content of MWCNT varied from 0 to 15% volume by wet gel. The surface group, thermal stability and microstructure of pure silica aerogel and MWCNT-SAs were investigated by FTIR, DTA, and TEM. Experimental results show that MWCNT-SAs are hydrophobic when the temperature is below 400 ℃, MWCNT-SAs exhibit a mesoporous network structure, and they achieve the largest scale with least shrinkage and lowest density when doped with 5 vol% MWCNT.