Hydrophobicity Analysis of Aerogels - GELS / Alfa Chemistry

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Hydrophobicity Analysis of Aerogels

Aerogels are emerging as potential candidates for modern scientific and technological applications like catalytic supports in liquid nuclear waste treatment, thermal insulators for spacecrafts and electronics circuitries, and oil spill cleanup. Hydrophobicity of aerogels is very crucial in these applications. Therefore, quantitative measurement of hydrophobicity with great precision and high resolution is an important aspect of aerogel analysis.

Analysis Methods

Alfa Chemistry provides customers with professional hydrophobicity analysis services for aerogels by common methods, including but not limited to the following.

Weight difference method

Weight difference method is an effective quantitative method to determine the hydrophobicity of aerogels. The adsorbed water content in the aerogels can be measured by weighing method where aerogel samples are weighed before and after exposing to the humidity, and the water uptake is measured from the change in weight of the samples. For samples with a high degree of hydrophobicity, a larger sample size is required to make a noticeable change in weight.

Weight difference method

K-F titration method

Karl Fischer (K-F) titration is a classic titration method in chemical analysis that uses coulometric or volumetric titration to determine trace amounts of water in aerogels, which is done with an automated K-F titrator. To measure the adsorbed water content, the aerogels are dissolved in anhydrous methanol and titrated in a closed vessel using Fischer's reagent. The adsorbed water content in the sample is measured from the change in color of solution which turns pale yellow at the end of the reaction, or by using potentiometric titration where the change in voltage is calibrated with the water content in the solution which indicates the amount of water adsorbed by the sample under study. The K-F titration method has the advantages that it requires a small sample size, and gives precise and repetitive results with high resolution.

Liquid drop contact angle method

Liquid drop contact angle method

Liquid drop contact angle method is an effective qualitative tool to determine the hydrophobicity of aerogels by contact angle analyzer. The contact angle between the aerogel surface and different liquid droplets (water, honey and alcohol) is a function of the hydrophobic degree of aerogels. If the aerogel surface is hydrophobic, the contact angle will be larger than 90°, whereas the aerogel is hydrophilic.

Our Advantages

We offer hydrophobicity analysis services for a wide range of aerogels, ranging from pure aerogels to aerogel composites.
We have reliable analysis methods to ensure the accuracy of hydrophobicity data.
We provide flexible and targeted technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to reduce your time costs.
We offer a complete analysis report, including method interpretation, data, result files and other information you need.

Service Process

Please kindly note that our products and services are for research use only.

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