Preparation of Mn, Ni, Co Ferrite Highly Porous Silica Nanocomposite Aerogels by an Urea-Assisted Sol-Gel Procedure

The preparation of highly porous MnFe(2)O(4)-SiO(2) and NiFe(2)O(4)-SiO(2) nanocomposite aerogels with high purity and homogeneity was successfully achieved by a sol-gel procedure involving urea-assisted co-gelation of the precursor phases firstly applied for the synthesis of CoFe(2)O(4)-SiO(2). This method allows fast gelation, giving rise to aerogels with 97% porosity. The structural, morphological and textural characterization as a function of thermal treatments was carried out by a multitechnique approach confirming that, as in the case of CoFe(2)O(4)-SiO(2), the formation of single nanocrystals of manganese ferrite and nickel ferrite with spinel structure occurs after heating at 750 degrees C and is complete at 900 degrees C when the high porosity typical of aerogels is still retained. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), N(2)-physisorption at 77 K, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicate that the compositional homogeneity, crystallite size, thermal stability, and porosity are controlled by the sol-gel parameters of the preparation.