Efficient reinforcement of wet gel by embedded polymer as newly approach for silica aerogel

Silica aerogel as an ultra‐porous material with high specific surface area is fabricated through drying a wet gel. Although ambient pressure drying is considered as simplest method, the obtained physical properties are not very desired. Here, we introduced a novel approach to improve the efficiency of ambient pressure drying technique by enhancing the strength and firmness of pores walls. The tetraethyl orthosilicate was used to produce the wet gel. The gel network was reinforced via embedding the polyvinyl alcohol cross‐linkable polymer into porosities of wet gel, and drying at ambient condition, forming an interpenetrating network. The thermal treatment was applied to remove the polymeric phase from structure of reinforced network. A proper specific surface area, good density, and high porosity were achieved about 503 m2/g, 0.23 g/cm3, and 89%, respectively. Furthermore, the obtained interconnected structure along whit large numbers of open mesopores confirms the acceptable efficiency of introduced facilitated technique.