Study on the preparation of silica particles from chlorosilane residues

Abstract In order to achieve resource utilization of chlorosilane residues, a facile method was proposed for the preparation of silica particles by the hydrolysis of chlorosilane residues in an aqueous solution. The synthesized silica powders were characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). Additionally, the combination of thermogravimetry and mass spectrometry (TG-DSC-MS) was employed to study the variation of mass, energy and pyrolysis gas products of silica particles in the thermal decomposition process. Furthermore, to further understand hydrolysis process of chlorosilane residues, the hydrolysis and condensation mechanisms of chlorosilane residues were studied by analyzing the surface structure of the silica particles prepared from the hydrolysis of chlorosilane residues in an aqueous solution. At the same time, the three-dimensional network structures of the silica were proposed. The results shown that the prepared silica was an amorphous material, with high purity (exceed 96.46 wt% SiO2), low, and the median diameter of 17.2 to 33.8 μm, has the potential to be used as a rubber additive, which could lay the foundation for the commercialization of silica product produced by the hydrolysis of aqueous chlorosilane residues.