The effect of synthesis conditions and process parameters on aerogel properties

Ozge Payanda Konuk; Ala A A M Alsuhile; Hamed Yousefzadeh; Zeynep Ulker; Selmi E Bozbag; C A García-González; I Smirnova; Can Erkey

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1294520

The effect of synthesis conditions and process parameters on aerogel properties

Front Chem. 2023 Oct 23:11:1294520. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1294520. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ozge Payanda Konuk¹, Ala A A M Alsuhile², Hamed Yousefzadeh³, Zeynep Ulker⁴, Selmi E Bozbag², C A García-González⁵, I Smirnova⁶, Can Erkey^{1

2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Yeditepe University, Atasehir, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Altinbas University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁵ Departamento de Farmacología, Farmacia Y Tecnología Farmacéutica, I+D Farma (GI-1645), Faculty of Pharmacy, Instituto de Materiales (iMATUS) and Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
⁶ Institute of Thermal Separation Processes, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Koç University Tüpraş Energy Center (KUTEM), Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.

Abstract

Aerogels are remarkable nanoporous materials with unique properties such as low density, high porosity, high specific surface area, and interconnected pore networks. In addition, their ability to be synthesized from various precursors such as inorganics, organics, or hybrid, and the tunability of their properties make them very attractive for many applications such as adsorption, thermal insulation, catalysts, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. The physical and chemical properties and pore structure of aerogels are crucial in determining their application areas. Moreover, it is possible to tailor the aerogel properties to meet the specific requirements of each application. This review presents a comprehensive review of synthesis conditions and process parameters in tailoring aerogel properties. The effective parameters from the dissolution of the precursor step to the supercritical drying step, including the carbonization process for carbon aerogels, are investigated from the studies reported in the literature.

Keywords: aerogel; aging; carbon; polysaccharide; silica; sol-gel; solvent exchange; supercritical.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) under project no. 118C124.