Morphology and Texture of Silica Prepared by Sol–Gel Synthesis on the Surface of Fibrous Carbon Materials

Silica materials are synthesized by the sol–gel method including the deposition of tetraethoxysilane on various micro- and nanocarbon fibers. The use of nanofibrous carbon as a template makes it possible to prepare thermally stable mesoporous SiO₂ samples with unusually high surface areas (up to 1255 m²/g) and high porosity (up to 5.6 cm³/g). These silica materials and aerogels prepared by supercritical drying have comparable pore volumes. It is found by high-resolution electron microscopy that a thin-wall matrix permeated by channels is a prevailing structure of silica materials. When some catalytic fibrous carbons are used as templates, silica nanotubes can be prepared.