Abstract
The dehydration process, induced by thermal treatment, of a silica gel, obtained from colloidal nano-particles, has been investigated. At sufficiently low water contents in the structure; water molecules wet the hydrophilic interior surface of the pores rather than forming droplets of pore water. This is manifested by elongation of the OH-bonds of the acidic silica groups and a dramatic downshift in the OH-vibrational frequency is observed. Further dehydration results in a dry, partially hydroxylated, porous silica consisting of a three dimensional network SiO 2 nano-particles. Upon further thermal treatment the remaining hydroxyl groups condense to Si–O–Si bridges between the colloidal particles.
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