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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    Gel-Phase processing and solvent exchange
    (Springer, 2023-10-01)
    Griffin, Justin S.
    ;
    Nelson, Ryan T.
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    Gurikov, Pavel
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    Smirnova, Irina
    ;
    Steiner, Stephen A.
    Several important unit operations involved in aerogel production pertain to the formation and processing of gels. Formation of a gel typically occurs in a mold, and accordingly, important considerations should be given to gel molding. Furthermore, after a gel has been formed, additional processing steps are typically required before its pore fluid can be removed to produce an aerogel. Such steps include aging of the gel to strengthen its solid-phase backbone, diffusion-mediated replacement of its pore fluid with a target solvent to compatibilize the gel for drying, and optional liquid-phase chemical treatment(s), for example, to impart hydrophobicity, introduce a desired functionality, or increase strength. This chapter discusses important unit operations including molding and demolding, aging, and solvent exchange, as well as examples of liquid-phase chemical treatments used to prepare various functional aerogels.
    Publicationtype: Book part
      56
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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    Recipes and designs for aerogels
    (Springer, 2023-10-01)
    Steiner, Stephen A.
    ;
    Anderson, Ann
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    Brock, Stephanie L.
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    Buckwalter, Moriah C.
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    Carroll, Mary K.
    This chapter presents a set of representative recipes for synthesizing a variety of aerogels of interest to academia and industry along with designs for equipment of utility for researching aerogels. Useful starting points for preparing aerogels of silica, various metal oxides, polymers, biopolymers, metal chalcogenides, metals, and nanocarbons are provided. Schematics for equipment including a low-cost supercritical CO2 dryer, a setup for performing high-temperature supercritical drying with a hot press instead of an autoclave, and a calibrated hot plate for measuring thermal conductivity are supplied.
    Publicationtype: Book part
      28
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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    110th Anniversary: Solvent Exchange in the Processing of Biopolymer Aerogels: Current Status and Open Questions
    (2019-10-09)
    Gurikov, Pavel
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    Subrahmanyam, Raman
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    Griffin, Justin S.
    ;
    Steiner, Stephen A.
    ;
    Smirnova, Irina
    In the past decade, the uses and applications of aerogels have garnered significant scientific curiosity in the aerogel community. Furthermore, renewed focus on the supercritical CO2 drying methodology of aerogels has expanded the material scope to several biopolymer systems that now offer new avenues for material, property, and application exploration. However, the principal challenge of the aerogel community is to balance the complexity and costs of aerogel processing with the enhanced material properties that the final aerogel presents. In the case of biopolymer aerogel processing by supercritical CO2 drying, an intermediate solvent exchange step is required in most cases as the biopolymers are gelled in water (hydrogels) and the supercritical CO2 drying cannot commence due to the miscibility gap in the water/CO2 system. Very limited information is available on exchanging water in a gel with organic solvents. The aim of this commentary paper is to introduce aerogel researchers to several aspects of the gel shrinkage during aerogel processing and invite the reader to address the open questions related to the basis for solvent selection in aerogel synthesis.
    Publicationtype: Journal Article
      204