The microstructure of hybrid silica gels and its modification by evaporative and supercritical dryings

The effect of evaporative drying on the pore size of two series of hybrid silica gels is investigated by combining beam bending on the gels and mercury porosimetry on the aerogels and xerogels with transmission electron microscopy on the xerogels. It is shown that the shrinkage of the pores during drying is different in the two series: in one series the pores shrink proportionally to their volume, in the other the pores collapse until they all reach the same size. The experimental data enable us to discuss the relation between these two different behaviours and the different morphology of the two series of gels.