Silica aerogel films prepared at ambient pressure by using surface derivatization to induce reversible drying shrinkage

Abstract

HIGHLY porous inorganic films have potential applications as dielectric materials, reflective and anti-reflective coatings, flat-panel displays, sensors, catalyst supports and super-insulating architectural glazings^1–3. Aerogels⁴ are the most highly porous solids known, and can now be prepared from inorganic⁵ and organic^6,7 precursors with volume-fraction porosities of up to 99.9% (ref. 8). Aerogels are normally prepared by supercritical extraction of the pore fluid from a wet gel¹, which prevents the network collapse that is otherwise induced by capillary forces. But supercritical processing is expensive, hazardous and incompatible with the processing requirements of many potential applications,thus severely restricting the commercial exploitation of aerogels. Here we describe a means of preparing aerogels by a simple dip-coating method at ambient pressure without the need for supercriti-cal extraction. We add surface groups to the inorganic gel which make drying shrinkage reversible⁹: as the solvent is withdrawn, the gel springs back to a porous state. We can generate aerogel films with 98.5% porosity using this approach. We anticipate that it will greatly expand the commercial applications of these materials.