New insights into the resistance of silica aerogel to temperature up to 1200 °C

Silica aerogel (SA) with high specific surface area (903 m²/g) and pore volume (6.81 cm³/g) was synthesized via base-catalyzed one-step sol–gel process. Thermal stability of SA under high temperature was estimated from structure evolution with temperature and time. The results demonstrate that the SA is thermally stabile at 1000 °C within 120 min (leaving specific surface area of 286 m²/g and pore volume of 1.46 cm³/g) and 1200 °C within 30 min (leaving specific surface area of 129 m²/g and pore volume of 0.59 cm³/g). The research provides new insights into the resistance of silica aerogels to high temperature, which is significant for application under harsh conditions.