A Study on the Sol-Gel Reaction Kinetics of Sodium Silicate Solution

The properties of sodium silicate solution were surveyed by using the yellow silicomolybdic method, and the formation of silica sol from sodium silicate solution and the growth of silica sol were investigated in this study. The content of 2 wt% in sodium silicate solution was proper to oxidize sodium silicate with sulfuric acid. After the removal of sodium ions in sodium silicate solution, the pH of silicate solution had to be controlled above 9 for the stabilization of silicate solution. The condensation between silicic acid species and silica nuclei surfaces has been studied at and pH 10 in silicate solutions with silica nuclei. The reaction falls into two kinetics regimes, limited at high silicic acid species concentration by polymerization, but at lower concentration by a process whereby deposited silicic acid species condenses further to silica. The overall condensation is first-order in silicic acid species concentration, proceeded toward to pseudo equilibrium concentration, , rather than the solubility of amorphous silica. The heat of solution of amorphous silica was 3.34 kcal/mol and exhibits an Arrhenius temperature dependence with an apparent activation energy of 3.16 kcal/mol in the range of .