Controlled gel research: the effect of ethanol for delaying the polycondensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate-dimethyldiethoxysilane

摘要： In this study, the effect of ethanol for delaying the polycondensation of silanol in the co-hydrolysis-condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate-dimethyldiethoxysilane was first explored and demonstrated by varying the amount of ethanol under low-water content and acid-catalyzed. On the basis of this, the controllability of the sol-gel process is realized, and the calculation formula of the gel formation time is provided. The experiment shows that the storage gel time and the reaction gel time are extended from 75 h to at least 4584 h, or from 20 to 65 h with the increase of ethanol concentration, respectively. And we observed the microscopic process of solution-sol-gel transition by light transmission microscope. The sol-gel process established in this experiment gives a mechanism reference for future research.