Transformation of Fly Ash-Based Oxide Particles into a Functional Silica-Alumina Aerogel and Its Potential Application as an Anti-icing Surface

Abstract

Lightweight, surface hydrophobic, highly insulating, and long-lasting aerogels are required for energy conservation and ice-repellent applications. Here, we present the conversion of fly ash to a silica-alumina aerogel (SAA) by utilizing its high silica content. The extracted silica component replaces expensive precursors typically used in conventional aerogel production. Ice adhesion performance was compared to that of polypropylene (PP), an insulating commodity polymer. First, we removed some salt impurities and heavy metals via water and alkaline washing protocols. Then, we produced SAA via the ambient pressure drying method by using trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) as an adhesion promoter. The newly produced SAA has a surface area of 810 m(2) g(-1) and shows hydrophobic properties with a contact angle of 140 +/- 5 degrees. The thermal conductivity of SAA is 0.0238 W m(-1) K-1 with C-P = 1.1922 MJ m(-3) K-1. The ice adhesion strength of the PP substrate was calculated as 188.30 +/- 51.24 kPa, while the ice adhesion strength of the SAA was measured as 1.21 +/- 0.40 kPa, which was about 150 times lower than that of PP. This indicated that SAA had icephobic properties since ice adhesion strength was less than 10 kPa. This study demonstrates that fly ash-based SAA can be utilized as an economical material with a large surface area and exceptional thermal insulation capacity and is free of harmful compounds (heavy metals), making it potentially suitable as an anti-ice thermal insulation material.