Synthesis and Characterization of Tetraethylorthosilicate Using Copper Oxide Supported on Alumina Catalyst

Abstract

Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was prepared by chemical methods using two methods, direct method and indirect method by using copper oxide supporting on alumina catalyst, from silicon dioxide and diethyl ether using acid catalyst of hydrochloric acid (11.8M). The sol gel process was applied for the preparation of nano silica gel. This method involves hydrolysis and condensation reaction of TEOS, the mechanism of this method was explained and showed formation of a network Si- O-Si chemical linkage form the alkoxysilane,the yield of tetraethylorthosilicate was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, the results obtained indicating that, the bond of Si-O-Si successfully formed. And the comparison between two method was studied and results showed that, the rate of reaction of TEOS which was prepared by direct method was equal to 0.008g/sec and prepared by using catalyst was equal to 0.275g/sec, indicating that, the tetraethyl orthosilicates that which prepared by indirect method by using catalyst was better than the direct method.