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Fabrication and characterization of composition-gradient CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel

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Abstract

With tetramethoxysilane as the silica precursor, CuCl2·2H2O as the copper–oxide precursor, acetonitrile as the solvent and gelled by PO via a sol–gel process, the CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel was fabricated. By adjusting the amount of CuCl2·2H2O, CuO/SiO2 composite aerogels with different molar ratio of Cu/Si such as 1, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 35 % was prepared. Finally, via a self-built device and sol-co-gelation technic, a continuous formation process was developed to fabricate the composition-gradient CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel. Density of these aerogels was about 200 mg/cm3, the composition-gradient CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel was cylindrical and about 2.5 cm in height. Scanning electron microscope was used to characterize its microstructure at different position. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectrometer and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer were used to characterize its composition and composition distribution, the results showed that the cylindrical CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel’s molar ratio of Cu/Si changed from 31.06 to 4.43 % as the measure point from the bottom up, the whole sample displayed obvious composition-gradient.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51102184, 51172163), Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (12nm0503001), National Science and Technology Support Program (SQ2011BAJY3505), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2013AA031801).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No. 1239 Siping Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jun Tang, Ai Du, Weiwei Xu, Guangwu Liu, Zhihua Zhang, Jun Shen & Bin Zhou

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  1. Jun Tang
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  2. Ai Du
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  3. Weiwei Xu
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  4. Guangwu Liu
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  5. Zhihua Zhang
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  6. Jun Shen
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  7. Bin Zhou
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Correspondence to Bin Zhou.

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Tang, J., Du, A., Xu, W. et al. Fabrication and characterization of composition-gradient CuO/SiO2 composite aerogel. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 68, 102–109 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-013-3140-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-013-3140-4

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