Fractal Structures on Silica Aerogels Containing Titanium: A Small Angle Neutron Scattering Study

The fractal structure of silica aerogels containing titanium has been investigated by means of small angle scattering (SAS) technique, i.e. small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The SANS experiments were conducted using a 36 meter SANS BATAN spectrometer (SMARTer) in Serpong, Indonesia in the range of momentum transfer q, 0.006<q(Å−1)<0.3. The ‘power‐law’ for a fractal object scattering pattern I(q)∼q−D observed from the all measured samples. The Fourier transform of a pair correlation model function was implemented in analyzing the structure factor from the ‘power‐law’ scattering profiles. The results are showing that the silica aerogels containing titanium has a mass fractal where its dimension Dm is larger than pure silica aerogels. The mass fractal dimension of silica aerogels containing titanium is relatively constant between 2.2 to 2.4 with the increase of acid concentrations during a sol‐gel process while the surface fractal disappeared.