Absorption and desorption of organic liquids in elastic superhydrophobic silica aerogels

Monolithic superhydrophobic silica aerogels were used as the absorbents of organic liquids and oils. The absorption property of the aerogel was quantified by the mass and moles of the organic liquid absorbed by unit mass of the aerogel. The superhydrophobic aerogels showed a very high uptake capacity and high rate of uptake. The aerogel structure was not affected by the organic liquid absorption, while the oil absorption led to the shrinkage resulting in a dense structure after the desorption. The figure shows the desorption time of organic solvents as a function of vapor pressure.