What is the difference between hydrophobic and hydrophilic aerogels

The "lightest" solid in the world, the material for the ceiling of the insulation industry, aerogel, it has such a contradictory side, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic, aerogel is hydrophobic in the environment below 350 degrees, and above this temperature, it begins to slowly hydrophilic, the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of aerogel mainly depend on the chemical groups on their surface and pore structure, hydrophobic aerogel is not easy to wet in water, usually with a certain number of alkyl or aromatic groups on the surface, the surface is non-polar, and hydrophilic aerogels are easy to absorb water, usually with a certain number of hydroxyl or methyl and other hydrophilic groups on the surface, the surface is polar, for example, in the field of water treatment, hydrophobic aerogels are often used as oil-water separation agents, while hydrophilic aerogels are often used as water separation agents.

What is aerogel hydrophobic type?

Aerogel hydrophobic material is a kind of material that imitates the lotus leaf microstructure. Because of the micro-nano structure of its surface, water droplets can not wet or penetrate on its surface, but form a spherical rolling drop. The hydrophobicity rate of aerogel can reach more than 99%, and its hydrophobicity makes it can be used as an oil-water separation material, which is widely used in the field of marine environmental protection. The aerogel particles are packed into a certain density material, which can achieve efficient oil-water separation effect and can be recycled.

Aerogel is a very low permeability material composed of air and solid, and its internal structure is network-like and has a very high specific surface area. After the surface treatment of the aerogel material, a hydrophobic surface can be formed, that is, an aerogel hydrophobic material. Its hydrophobic properties are mainly from the surface self-assembled film and chemical modification, which can resist water and oil penetration.

Aerogel hydrophobic materials have a wide range of applications, such as oil separation, water resistant coatings, high efficiency filtration, antibacterial materials, medical dressings and other fields. In the field of oil separation, aerogel hydrophobic materials can effectively filter out the oil in the water, so as to achieve the protection of the environment. In the field of water resistant coatings, aerogel hydrophobic type materials can be used to prepare materials with good coating water resistance. In the field of high-efficiency filtration, aerogel hydrophobic materials can be used to prepare high-efficiency filtration equipment, and are widely used in drinking water filtration, air filtration and other fields. In the field of antibacterial materials, aerogel hydrophobic materials can be prepared into materials with antibacterial function, and used in the preparation of antibacterial surgical dressings, antibacterial masks and other medical materials.

What is aerogel hydrophilic type?

Hydrophilic aerogel is easy to absorb water, usually with a certain number of hydroxyl or methyl groups and other hydrophilic groups on the surface, the surface is polar, often used for water separation agent.

1. Because aerogels have a sponge-like nanostructure, the surface area of an ice-sized aerogel is equivalent to half a football field, enough to absorb many water molecules;

2. The surface of the aerogel structure is covered with oxygen and hydrogen groups that will adsorb water molecules.

Aerogel can absorb 25 times its own mass of water, but for some application scenarios, hydrophilicity does not meet people's needs.

As an important nanomaterial, aerogels have significant differences in both hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties. Hydrophobic aerogels and hydrophilic aerogels have their own advantages in application fields and characteristics, which are of great significance for solving practical problems. Langmiu environmental protection technology professional manufacturing aerogel materials and related products, welcome major enterprises and universities to communicate and cooperate with us to promote the development of high-quality productivity.