Silica aerogel, a mesoporous material, was prepared from rice husk ash by sol-gel method and dried under atmospheric pressure. In this method, rice husk ash, which is rich in silica, was extracted with sodium hydroxide solution to produce a sodium silicate solution. This solution was neutralized with acid to form a silica hydrosol, and a small amount of tetraethyl silicate (TEOS) to form a gel. The aged gel was washed carefully by distilled water and ethanol and finally dried under atmospheric air. The prepared silica aerogels were characterized by XRF, FT-IR, TG, DTA, DTG, XRD, BET and SEM measurements. The synthesized TEOS-doped silica aerogel was a light solid with specific surface area of 315 m(2)/g, pore volume 0.78 cm(3)/g, average pore size 9.8 nm, bulk density 0.32 g/cm(3) and porosity 85%. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.