'Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)'
Doi
Abstract
This is a letter report to complete level 3 milestone "Assess aging characteristics of silica aerogels" for DOE FCRD program. Recently, samples of Ag0-functionalized silica aerogel were aged in flowing dry air for up to 6 months and then loaded with iodine. This dry-air aging simulated the impact of long-term exposure to process gases during process idling. The 6-month aged sample exhibited an iodine sorption capacity of 32 mass%, which was 9 mass % lower than that for an un-aged Ag0-functionalized silica aerogel. In an attempt to understand this decrease in sorption capacity, we characterized physical properties of the aged samples with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed no impact of aging on the aerogel microstructure or the silver nanoparticles in the aerogel, including their spatial distribution and morphology
