Silica with a high surface area is a good compound to be used support for catalysts. Also, the reactivity of silica is directly related to its surface area.
The BET-specific surface area and pore volume of RHA and nanosilica are given in Table 2. A major contribution to the high surface area is that the organic matter has been broken up during the
thermal decomposition of RH, thus leaving a highly porous
structure. The increasing pore volume in nanosilica
confirms this phenomenon.