Synthesis of SiC–TiO2 hybrid aerogel via supercritical drying combined PDCs route

Abstract The SiC-TiO 2 hybrid aerogels were obtained from polycarbosilane (PCS) and tetrabutyltitanate (TBT) as precursors using supercritical drying and polymer derived ceramics route. The polymer to ceramic conversion and the crystallization behavior were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), suggesting the preceramic aerogels converted to the SiC-TiO 2 ceramic aerogels through pyrolysis process at different temperatures. At 1200 °C, the ceramic aerogels were homogeneous with well-distributed element components, composed of rutile TiO 2 and the β-SiC crystalline phases. The results show that the SiC-TiO 2 ceramic aerogels with netwoks structure have 23.36 nm average pore size, high surface area (58 m 2 /g) and pore volume (0.22 cm 3 /g).