Silica aerogel–metal composites produced by supercritical adsorption

Silica aerogel has been loaded with ruthenium acetyl acetonate (Ru(acac)3) by adsorption from supercritical carbon dioxide. Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were measured at different pressures and temperatures. The properties of impregnated aerogel were obtained by optical and electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray microanalysis (EDX) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results showed that Ru(acac)3 can be uniformly dispersed into the aerogel up to 5 wt%. Moreover, precursor loading is controllable by properly changing operating conditions. The adsorbed metallorganic compound has been reduced to elemental ruthenium by heat treatment without inducing degradation and morphological changes of silica aerogel.