Mekelle University

Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle

Department of Chemical Engineering
Process Engineering

Name: Etay Hailu

Id No:EITM/PR/81041/13
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 Introduction
Sol-gel processing is one of the routes for the preparation of
porous materials by their solidification from a true solution
phase
Sol –gel processing designates a type of solid material
synthesis ,performed in a liquid and at low temperature.
Dissolve the component in a liquid in order to bring it back
as a solid in a controlled manner.
It’s a typical nanotechnology because all gel products contain
nanoparticles or are nanocomposites.

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 Sol &Gel
Sol is a stable dispersion of colloidal particles or polymers in
a solvent.
Consist of liquid with colloidal particles which are no
dissolved, but do not agglomerate or sediment.
Gel is a three dimensional continous network which encloses
liquid phase.
involves the evolution of inorganic networks through the
formation of a colloidal suspension (sol) and gelation of the
sol to form a network in a continuous liquid phase (gel)

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 Cont…
The precursors for synthesizing these colloidsn consist
 metal alkoxides
 e.g: tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)
 metal chlorides
 they readily react with water.
 Reactions generally used to describe the sol-gel process:
 hydrolysis
 polycondensation

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Figure 1: General scheme of sol-gel processing in the preparation of solid materials: I –
colloidization; II – flocculation; III – gelation; IV – supercritical fluid processing; and V –
drying by evaporation.

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 Physicochemical Basis and Principles of Sol-Gel Processing
 Sol-gel processing is a sequence of operations including chemical reactions
and physical processes (phase separation, dissolution, evaporation, phase
transition, etc.) leading to the formation of porous solids (metal oxides or
oxide-free materials) from liquid solutions of molecular precursors.
 The sol-gel processing sequence includes the following seven main stages:
 conversion (activation) of dissolved molecular precursors to the reactive state

 polycondensation of activated molecular precursors in to nano clusters

(micelles) forming a colloidal solution – sol;
 Gelation

 Aging
 Washing;

 Drying;
 Stabilization 7
 Percureser

Gel formation

Ageing in mother liquir

Washing

Dring process

Xerogel Aerogel
(evaporation) (atoclave)

Stabilization

Final material
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Application of Sol-Gel Processing to Prepare Solid Catalysts
 Sol-gel processing is widely used for the preparation of solid
catalytic materials, which cover all the known applications of solid
catalysts.
 Bulk Catalytic Phase Materials: Xero- and Aerogels
 Monometallic Catalytic Materials
 Alumina

 Titania

 Multimetallic Composite Catalytic Phases

 Catalytic Materials and Modifiers Entrapped in Porous
Matrices
 Atoms or Molecular Substances Entrapped by Cocondensation at the
Colloidization Step
 Mixed-Metal Oxide Xero- and Aerogels

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 cont…
Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Interphase Catalysts
 MolecularSubstances Adsorbed or Entrapped at the
Gelation Step
Functionalized Organic Catalysts
Inorganic Molecular Catalysts
Enzymes

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Factors Influencing Sol-Gel Process
 Parameters influencing hydrolysis
 Water toalkoxide ratio
 Type and amount of catalyst
 Parameters influencing condensation
 Type of precursor
 Alkoxide water ratio
 Type of catalyst
 pH
 Type of solvent

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