Multifractal characteristics of silica xerogels gelated in various evaporation conditions

An acid-catalyzed TEOS system has gelated under four different solvent evaporation conditions, and the singularity spectra of the resultant xerogels have been determined with image analysis methods and discussed in combination with their mesoporosity values. Generally, larger scale of singularity strength and lower entropy dimension are observed for the xerogel prepared in slower evaporation condition, along with finer gel textures and higher mesoporosity. However, when the solvent evaporation is extremely rapid, inverse results emerge.