Author(s)

Hiroshi Ikeda¹, Shigeru Fujino²

¹Division of Biomaterials, Department of Oral Functions, Kyushu Dental University, Fukuoka, Japan.
²Global Innovation Center, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

This paper aims to fabricate over centimeter size of porous silica monolith having meso-pores with large surface area. A precursor of porous silica monolith was obtained by sintering a monolithic SiO₂-poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite at 600^oC-1100^oC. The sintering behavior was examined by means of Raman spectroscopy and a porosimetry. The PVA of the SiO2-PVA nanocomposite was combusted below 600^oC, subsequently the silica nanoparticles of the nanocomposite were sintered above 900^oC. The Raman spectroscopy suggested that amorphous structure of the porous silica monolith obtained above 1000^oC was similar to that of a silica glass. The BET surface area and pore radius of the porous silica monolith decreased with increasing sintering temperature. These values were tailored in the range of ca. 0-291 m².g^-1 and 5-25 nm, respectively, by controlling the sintering temperature and time. The fabricated porous-silica monolith was translucent or opaque porous-silica depending on the pore size.

Porous Silica, Monolith, Silica Nanoparticles, Silica Glass, PVA, Sintering

Ikeda, H. and Fujino, S. (2017) Fabrication and Characterization of Porous Silica Monolith by Sintering Silica Nanoparticles. Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 5, 107-117. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2017.53009.