The effect of alcohol solvents on morphology of silica particles synthesized from silica sand and their application as hydrophobic surfaces

This article report on a study of silica particles prepared from silica sand under alkaline conditions using a sol gel method. Sodium silicate solution prepared from silica sand was diluted with water and dropped-wise in the mixture of ammonia/propanol, ammonia/ethanol, ammonia/methanol and ammonia/ethanol/methanol to form a sol. It was further dried prior to aging treatment for 7 days to obtain silica particles. The effect of alcohol solvent on the morphology and the particle size of silica particles was investigated using various characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and particle size analyzer. It was found that the formation of non-agglomerated silica particle with homogenous spherical morphology greatly depended on the solubility of sodium silicate in organic solvent during sol gel synthesis. Furthermore, the produced particles possible for fabrication of hydrophobic surface was discussed in detail.