For water contact angle measurements, silica membrane materials were coated on a glass substrate. The coated film of the novel silica material was calcined in air with the same conditions as mentioned earlier. The hydrophobic silica, powder and coated film, were calcined under nitrogen atmosphere, in order to prevent the burn-off of the methyl groups, at a heating and cooling rate of 1 °C/ min and held for 3h at 400°C.