Intrusion/Extrusion of water into organic grafted SBA-15 silica materials for energy storage

Mesoporous SBA-15 silica materials were grafted with trialkylsilyl compounds having short (C1) and long (C8) carbon chain and characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption analysis, 29Si MAS-NMR and contact angle (CA) measurements. A drastic enhancement of the hydrophobic property after grafting was observed by forced intrusion water; it occurred in two steps and with quite high intrusion pressures (mean values - 10 and - 15 MPa). The hydrophobic nature of both internal and external surface area was confirmed by 29Si MAS-NMR and CA measurements, respectively. After contact with water, materials displayed a partial hydrophobic behaviour with uncompleted spontaneous extrusion. The energies absorbed during water intrusion correspond to 4.3 and 6.1 J x g(-1) for C1 and C8 grafted species, respectively.