We know that there are lots of surface hydroxyl on silica gel surface, but how does it works?

What is surface hydroxyl?

·It is a common polar group on silica gel surface.

·It’s chemical formula is -OH

·It has similar properties to water.

But how does it works? 

Hydroxyl is a hydrophilic group, it has strong hydrophilicity, that’s why silica gel can absorb moisture.

How to choose silica gel?

We have silica gel desiccant, column chromatography silica gel, C18 silica gel and so on.

Plz tell me your applications, the rest will be done by me.