Hydrophobic silica aerogels prepared by microwave irradiation

Silica aerogels were synthesized by using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) as coprecursors via the sol-gel method under the microwave irradiation condition. The optimal molar ratio of MTES:TEOS: EtOH: H2O is 0.8:1:8:4, and the obtained aerogels showed the bulk density is 0.097 g/cm(3), the surface area is 760.56 m(2)/g, and pore diameter is 6.06 nm, respectively. The microstructure on the skeleton of the bone networks was investigated by TEM, and the FTIR confirmed that the -OH groups were substituted by the -CH3 groups prepared by MTES/TEOS co-precursor, the superhydrophobic property was described with a water contact angle up to 168.0 degrees.