Centimetre-sized silica aerogel spheres were prepared via sol-gel process.
Samples were prepared using DMSO-CO2 solvent for one-step aging/solvent exchange at 2 MPa.
The silica aerogel sphere with satisfactory performance is manufactured at 4 °C.
S-4 has a typical three-dimensional porous structure with pore diameter about 25.4 nm.
S-4 has minimum density 0.12 g/cm3 and maximum specific surface area 1078 m2/g.