Abstract:
The synthesis of silica gel using tetraethoxysilane has been researched with reactions of hydrolysis
and polycondensation. The amount of water used as reactant will determine the degree of
hydrolysis and condensation. For it will influence the abilty of higroskopic of silica gel. Synthesis of
silica gel was conducted by reaction of tetraethoxysilane, ethanol, and variation on water volume
from the salt hydrate Ni(NO3). 6 H2O. After transparent solid gel was dried at 40
o
C xerogel was
obtained.. Analysis that conducted for silica gel consist of gelation time,% loss of weight and
higroscopic test. The result shown gelation time for gel silica that have contains Ni salt less than
silica gel with H2O, % loss of weight for silica gel with Ni salt less than silica gel that have contains
H2O, and silica gel with Ni salt have more higroscopic than silica gel that consist of H2O
