WorldWideScience

Sample records for silica aerogel monoliths

  1. On the improvement of mechanical properties of monolithic silica aerogels (for transparent insulating material); Silica aerogel (tomei dannetsu zairyo) kyodo no kaizen ni tsuite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tajiri, K; Igarashi, K; Tanemura, S [National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya, Nagoya (Japan)

    1997-11-25

    Study was made on improvement of the strength of silica aerogel as transparent insulating material. Silica aerogel is a low-density porous material with high heat insulation and transparency. To develop a insulating material with high transparency, monolithic silica aerogel was studied. For direct use of it for windows, its strength improvement was attempted. The aerogel was prepared by supercritical drying (alcohol or CO2) of silica wet gel obtained by hydrolysis and condensation of silicon alkoxide solution. To prepare the aerogel bonded on plate glass for strength improvement, the aerogel was bonded to alkoxide by exposing active silanol radical through F-etching of plate glass surface. However, to obtain the practical large-area bonded aerogel, shrinkage control of the aerogel in supercritical drying was necessary. Addition of Laponite into a silica network for strength improvement by polymer increased the bending strength by 50%. Although some reduction of its transparency was observed because of clouding, its heat insulation was stable. Further strength improvement is necessary for its practical use. 5 figs., 1 tab.

  2. Epoxy Crosslinked Silica Aerogels (X-Aerogels)

    Science.gov (United States)

    fabrizio, Eve; Ilhan, Faysal; Meador, Mary Ann; Johnston, Chris; Leventis, Nicholas

    2004-01-01

    NASA is interested in the development of strong lightweight materials for the dual role of thermal insulator and structural component for space vehicles; freeing more weight for useful payloads. Aerogels are very-low density materials (0.010 to 0.5 g/cc) that, due to high porosity (meso- and microporosity), can be, depending on the chemical nature of the network, ideal thermal insulators (thermal conductivity approx. 15 mW/mK). However, aerogels are extremely fragile. For practical application of aerogels, one must increase strength without compromising the physical properties attributed to low density. This has been achieved by templated growth of an epoxy polymer layer that crosslinks the "pearl necklace" network of nanoparticles: the framework of a typical silica aerogel. The requirement for conformal accumulation of the epoxy crosslinker is reaction both with the surface of silica and with itself. After cross-linking, the strength of a typical aerogel monolith increases by a factor of 200, in the expense of only a 2-fold increase in density. Strength is increased further by coupling residual unreacted epoxides with diamine.

  3. Polyurea-Based Aerogel Monoliths and Composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Je Kyun

    2012-01-01

    aerogel insulation material was developed that will provide superior thermal insulation and inherent radiation protection for government and commercial applications. The rubbery polyureabased aerogel exhibits little dustiness, good flexibility and toughness, and durability typical of the parent polyurea polymer, yet with the low density and superior insulation properties associated with aerogels. The thermal conductivity values of polyurea-based aerogels at lower temperature under vacuum pressures are very low and better than that of silica aerogels. Flexible, rubbery polyurea-based aerogels are able to overcome the weak and brittle nature of conventional inorganic and organic aerogels, including polyisocyanurate aerogels, which are generally prepared with the one similar component to polyurethane rubber aerogels. Additionally, with higher content of hydrogen in their structures, the polyurea rubber-based aerogels will also provide inherently better radiation protection than those of inorganic and carbon aerogels. The aerogel materials also demonstrate good hydrophobicity due to their hydrocarbon molecular structure. There are several strategies to overcoming the drawbacks associated with the weakness and brittleness of silica aerogels. Development of the flexible fiber-reinforced silica aerogel composite blanket has proven to be one promising approach, providing a conveniently fielded form factor that is relatively robust in industrial environments compared to silica aerogel monoliths. However, the flexible, silica aerogel composites still have a brittle, dusty character that may be undesirable, or even intolerable, in certain application environments. Although the cross - linked organic aerogels, such as resorcinol- formaldehyde (RF), polyisocyanurate, and cellulose aerogels, show very high impact strength, they are also very brittle with little elongation (i.e., less rubbery). Also, silica and carbon aerogels are less efficient radiation shielding materials due

  4. Evacuated aerogel glazings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev

    2008-01-01

    This paper describes the main characteristics of monolithic silica aerogel and its application in evacuated superinsulating aerogel glazing including the evacuation and assembling process. Furthermore, the energetic benefit of aerogel glazing is quantified. In evacuated aerogel glazing the space ......) combined with a solar energy transmittance above 0.75.......This paper describes the main characteristics of monolithic silica aerogel and its application in evacuated superinsulating aerogel glazing including the evacuation and assembling process. Furthermore, the energetic benefit of aerogel glazing is quantified. In evacuated aerogel glazing the space...... between the glass panes is filled with monolithic silica aerogel evacuated to a rough vacuum of approximately 1-10 hPa. The aerogel glazing does not depend on use of low emissive coatings that have the drawback of absorbing a relatively large part of the solar radiation that otherwise could reduce...

  5. Protective Skins for Aerogel Monoliths

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leventis, Nicholas; Johnston, James C.; Kuczmarski, Maria A.; Meador, Ann B.

    2007-01-01

    A method of imparting relatively hard protective outer skins to aerogel monoliths has been developed. Even more than aerogel beads, aerogel monoliths are attractive as thermal-insulation materials, but the commercial utilization of aerogel monoliths in thermal-insulation panels has been inhibited by their fragility and the consequent difficulty of handling them. Therefore, there is a need to afford sufficient protection to aerogel monoliths to facilitate handling, without compromising the attractive bulk properties (low density, high porosity, low thermal conductivity, high surface area, and low permittivity) of aerogel materials. The present method was devised to satisfy this need. The essence of the present method is to coat an aerogel monolith with an outer polymeric skin, by painting or spraying. Apparently, the reason spraying and painting were not attempted until now is that it is well known in the aerogel industry that aerogels collapse in contact with liquids. In the present method, one prevents such collapse through the proper choice of coating liquid and process conditions: In particular, one uses a viscous polymer precursor liquid and (a) carefully controls the amount of liquid applied and/or (b) causes the liquid to become cured to the desired hard polymeric layer rapidly enough that there is not sufficient time for the liquid to percolate into the aerogel bulk. The method has been demonstrated by use of isocyanates, which, upon exposure to atmospheric moisture, become cured to polyurethane/polyurea-type coats. The method has also been demonstrated by use of commercial epoxy resins. The method could also be implemented by use of a variety of other resins, including polyimide precursors (for forming high-temperature-resistant protective skins) or perfluorinated monomers (for forming coats that impart hydrophobicity and some increase in strength).

  6. Aerogels: transparent and super-insulating materials; Les aerogels: isolants transparent-super isolants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Melka, S.; Rigacci, A.; Achard, P.; Bezian, J.J. [Ecole des Mines de Paris, 06 - Sophia-Antipolis (France); Sallee, H.; Chevalier, B. [Centre des Sciences et Techniques du Batiment, 38 - Saint-Martin-d`Heres (France)

    1996-12-31

    Recent studies have demonstrated the super-insulating properties of silica aerogel in its monolithic or finely divided state. In its monolithic state, this material conciliates excellent thermal insulation performances, a good transmission of visible light and interesting acoustic properties. Also its amazing structural characteristics (lightness, high global porosity, small diameter of pores) are particularly interesting for its use in double glazing windows as transparent insulating spacer. The aim of the work carried out by the Energetic Centre of the Ecole des Mines of Paris is to understand the thermal transfer phenomena in all forms of silica aerogel. In this paper, the main steps of the synthesis process of monolithic silica aerogel is presented with the thermal conductivities obtained. Then, a model is built to describe the thermal transfer mechanisms in finely divided aerogel beds. Finally, the hot wire thermal characterization method is presented and the results obtained on silica aerogels are discussed. (J.S.) 16 refs.

  7. Silica aerogel Cerenkov counter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasumi, S.; Masaike, A.; Yamamoto, A.; Yoshimura, Y.; Kawai, H.

    1984-03-01

    In order to obtain silica aerogel radiators of good quality, the prescription used by Saclay group has been developed. We have done several experiments using beams from KEK.PS to test the performance of a Cerenkov counter with aerogel modules produced in KEK. It turned out that these modules had excellent quality. The production rate of silica aerogel in KEK is 15 -- 20 litres a week. Silica aerogel modules of 20 x 10 x 3 cm 3 having the refractive index of 1.058 are successfully being used by Kyoto University group in the KEK experiment E92 (Σ). Methodes to produce silica aerogel with higher refractive index than 1.06 has been investigated both by heating an module with the refractive index of 1.06 and by hydrolyzing tetraethyl silicate. (author)

  8. The monolithic carbon aerogels and aerogel composites for electronics and thermal protection applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Sheng; Guo, Hui; Zhou, Yugui; Liu, Yuanyuan; Jin, Zhaoguo; Liu, Bin; Zhao, Yingmin

    2017-09-01

    Monolithic carbon aerogels have been prepared by condensation polymerization and high temperature pyrolysis. The morphology of carbon aerogels are characterized by SEM. The pore structure is characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption technique. Monolithic carbon aerogels are mesoporous nanomaterials. Carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel composites are prepared by in-situ sol-gel process. Fiber reinforced carbon aerogel composites are of high mechanical strength. The thermal response of the fiber reinforced aerogel composite samples are tested in an arc plasma wind tunnel. Carbon aerogel composites show good thermal insulation capability and high temperature resistance in inert atmosphere even at ultrahigh temperature up to 1800 °C. The results show that they are suitable for applications in electrodes for supercapacitors/ Lithium-ion batteries and aerospace thermal protection area.

  9. Novel bioactive materials: silica aerogel and hybrid silica aerogel/pseudowollastonite

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reséndiz-Hernández, P. J.

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Silica aerogel and hybrid silica aerogel/pseudowollastonite materials were synthesized by controlled hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS using also methanol (MeOH and pseudowollastonite particles. The gels obtained were dried using a novel process based on an ambient pressure drying. Hexane and hexamethyl-disilazane (HMDZ were the solvents used to chemically modify the surface. In order to assess bioactivity, aerogels, without and with pseudowollastonite particles, were immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF for 7 and 14 days. The hybrid silica aerogel/pseudowollastonite showed a higher bioactivity than that observed for the single silica aerogel. However, as in both cases a lower bioactivity was observed, a biomimetic method was also used to improve it. In this particular method, samples of both materials were immersed in SBF for 7 days followed by their immersion in a more concentrated solution (1.5 SBF for 14 days. A thick and homogeneous bonelike apatite layer was formed on the biomimetically treated materials. Thus, bioactivity was successfully improved even on the aerogel with no pseudowollastonite particles. As expected, the hybrid silica aerogel/pseudowollastonite particles showed a higher bioactivity.Se sintetizaron aerogel de sílice y aerogel híbrido de sílice/partículas de pseudowollastonita por hidrólisis controlada de tetraetoxisilano (TEOS usando metanol (MeOH y partículas de pseudowollastonita. Los geles obtenidos se secaron utilizando un novedoso proceso basado en una presión de secado ambiental. Hexano y hexametil-disilazano fueron los solventes usados para modificar químicamente la superficie. Para evaluar la bioactividad, los aerogeles con y sin partículas de pseudowollastonita se sumergieron en un fluido fisiológico simulado (SBF por 7 y 14 días. El aerogel híbrido de sílice/partículas de pseudowollastonita mostró más alta bioactividad que la observada por el aerogel solo. Sin embargo, en ambos casos, se

  10. X-ray radiographic technique for measuring density uniformity of silica aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabata, Makoto; Hatakeyama, Yoshikiyo; Adachi, Ichiro; Morita, Takeshi; Nishikawa, Keiko

    2013-01-01

    This paper proposes a new X-ray radiographic technique for measuring density uniformity of silica aerogels used as radiator in proximity-focusing ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors. To obtain high performance in a large-area detector, a key characteristic of radiator is the density (i.e. refractive index) uniformity of an individual aerogel monolith. At a refractive index of n=1.05, our requirement for the refractive index uniformity in the transverse plane direction of an aerogel tile is |δ(n−1)/(n−1)|<4% in a focusing dual layer radiator (with different refractive indices) scheme. We applied the radiographic technique to evaluate the density uniformity of our original aerogels from a trial production and that of Panasonic products (SP-50) as a reference, and to confirm they have sufficient density uniformity within ±1% along the transverse plane direction. The measurement results show that the proposed technique can quantitatively estimate the density uniformity of aerogels.

  11. Monolithic Silica aerogel in superinsulating glazings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duer, Karsten; Svendsen, Sv Aa Højgaard

    1988-01-01

    . This phenomenon is considered being the main obstacle to incorporate the material in clear glazings but a significant improvement of the optical quality of aerogel has been observed during the last five years. A number of prototypical evacuated 500x500x28 mm aerogel double glazed units employing a new edge seal...... competetion in heating dominated climates....

  12. Synthesis and physical properties of TEOS-based silica aerogels prepared by two step (acid-base) sol-gel process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Venkateswara Rao, A.; Bhagat, S.D.

    2004-01-01

    The experimental results on the synthesis and physical properties of tetra-ethoxy-silane- (TEOS) based silica aerogels produced by two step (acid-base) sol-gel process, are reported. The oxalic acid (A) and NH 4 OH (B) concentrations were varied from 0 to 0.1 M and from 0.4 to 3 M, respectively. Monolithic and transparent aerogels have been obtained for the values of A=0.001 M and B=1 M. The effect of time interval (t) before the base catalyst (NH 4 OH) addition to the acidic sol was studied from 0 to 72 h. The time interval at t=24 h of NH 4 OH addition was found to be the best, in terms of low volume shrinkage, high optical transmission and monolithicity. The molar ratio of EtOH/TEOS (S) was varied from 3 to 7.5. Monolithic and transparent aerogels were obtained for an S value of 6.9. Also, the effects of molar ratio of acidic water, i.e., H 2 O/TEOS (W1) and basic water, i.e., H 2 O/TEOS (W2) on the physical properties of the aerogels have been studied. Highly transparent (about 90%) and monolithic aerogels with lower volume shrinkage ( 2 O):basic (H 2 O). The results are discussed by taking into consideration the hydrolysis and poly-condensation reactions. The aerogels were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical transmission, bulk density, volume shrinkage and porosity measurements. (authors)

  13. Basic science of new aerogels. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-08-01

    Feasibility of making monolithic composite aerogels containing silica and natural clay minerals, synthetic clay minerals or zeolites has been demonstrated, using two different processes; up to 30 wt% of the mineral phase has been successfully added. Addition of natural and synthetic clay minerals or zeolites to silica aerosols was shown to retard densification. Composite silica aerogels showed significant surface area still present after sintering at 800 or 1000 C. For most samples, 1 wt% of the second phase is equally effective in retarding densification as 10 wt%. Composite aerogels, in general, had lower hardness values than pure silica. Hardness values were inversely proportional to aerogel pore radius.

  14. Polyolefin-Based Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Je Kyun; Gould, George

    2012-01-01

    An organic polybutadiene (PB) rubberbased aerogel insulation material was developed that will provide superior thermal insulation and inherent radiation protection, exhibiting the flexibility, resiliency, toughness, and durability typical of the parent polymer, yet with the low density and superior insulation properties associated with the aerogels. The rubbery behaviors of the PB rubber-based aerogels are able to overcome the weak and brittle nature of conventional inorganic and organic aerogel insulation materials. Additionally, with higher content of hydrogen in their structure, the PB rubber aerogels will also provide inherently better radiation protection than those of inorganic and carbon aerogels. Since PB rubber aerogels also exhibit good hydrophobicity due to their hydrocarbon molecular structure, they will provide better performance reliability and durability as well as simpler, more economic, and environmentally friendly production over the conventional silica or other inorganic-based aerogels, which require chemical treatment to make them hydrophobic. Inorganic aerogels such as silica aerogels demonstrate many unusual and useful properties. There are several strategies to overcoming the drawbacks associated with the weakness and brittleness of silica aerogels. Development of the flexible fiber-reinforced silica aerogel composite blanket has proven one promising approach, providing a conveniently fielded form factor that is relatively robust toward handling in industrial environments compared to silica aerogel monoliths. However, the flexible silica aerogel composites still have a brittle, dusty character that may be undesirable, or even intolerable, in certain applications. Although the cross-linked organic aerogels such as resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF), polyisocyanurate, and cellulose aerogels show very high impact strength, they are also very brittle with little elongation (i.e., less rubbery). Also, silica and carbon aerogels are less efficient

  15. Super insulating aerogel glazing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Kristiansen, Finn Harken

    2004-01-01

    form the weakest part of the thermal envelope with respect to heat loss coefficient, but on the other hand also play an important role for passive solar energy utilisation. For window orientations other than south, the net energy balance will be close to or below zero. However, the properties......Monolithic silica aerogel offers the possibility of combining super insulation and high solar energy transmittance, which has been the background for a previous and a current EU project on research and development of monolithic silica aerogel as transparent insulation in windows. Generally, windows...... of aerogel glazing will allow for a positive net energy gain even for north facing vertical windows in a Danish climate during the heating season. This means that high quality daylight can be obtained even with additional energy gain. On behalf of the partners of the two EU projects, results related...

  16. Refractive index dispersion law of silica aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Perego, D.L.; Storaci, B.

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents measurements of the refractive index of a hygroscopic silica aerogel block at several wavelengths. The measurements, performed with a monochromator, have been compared with different parameterisations for n(λ), in order to determine the best chromaticity law for the aerogel. This is an important input for design and operation of RICH detectors with silica aerogel radiator. (orig.)

  17. Silica aerogel and space astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koch-Miramond, L.

    1985-09-01

    Silica aerogels have been produced in large and transparent blocks for space astrophysics experiments since the beginning of the 1970's. They were used in cosmic ray experiments on board balloons by the Saclay group. A new space venture where aerogel Cerenkov radiators will play a decisive role is currently being prepared by a large collaboration of European and US Institutes. It will be part of the so-called International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM) which will explore the heliosphere over the full range of solar latitudes from the ecliptic (equatorial) plane to the magnetic poles of the sun. Comments on properties and long term behaviour of silica aerogel cerenkov radiators in space environment are given

  18. Elastic properties of silica aerogels from a new rapid supercritical extraction process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gross, J.; Coronado, P.R.; Hair, L.M.; Hrubesh, L.W.

    1997-08-11

    Silica aerogels were produced by a new process from Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) with ammonia as base catalyst. the process involves pouring the liquid sol in a stainless steel mold and immediately heating it to supercritical conditions. Gelation and aging occurs during heating and reaction rates are high die to high average temperatures. the gel fills the container completely, which enables relatively fast venting of the supercritical fluid by providing a constraint for swelling and failure of the gel monolith. The whole process can be completed in 6 h or less. Longitudinal and shear moduli were measured in the dried aerogels by ultrasonic velocity measurements both as a function of chemical composition of the original sol and of position in the aerogel. It was found that the sound velocity exhibits marked maxima on the surface of the cylindrical specimens and specifically close to the ends, where the fluid left during venting. Specimens with high catalyst concentration and high water:TMOS ratio exhibited higher average moduli.

  19. Quantitative analysis of silica aerogel-based thermal insulation coatings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kiil, Søren

    2015-01-01

    containing intact hollow glass or polymer spheres showed that silica aerogel particles are more efficient in an insulation coating than hollow spheres. In a practical (non-ideal) comparison, the ranking most likely cannot be generalized. A parameter study demonstrates how the model can be used, qualitatively......A mathematical heat transfer model for a silica aerogel-based thermal insulation coating was developed. The model can estimate the thermal conductivity of a two-component (binder-aerogel) coating with potential binder intrusion into the nano-porous aerogel structure. The latter is modelled using...... a so-called core–shell structure representation. Data from several previous experimental investigations with silica aerogels in various binder matrices were used for model validation. For some relevant cases with binder intrusion, it was possible to obtain a very good agreement between simulations...

  20. Monolithic three-dimensional electrochemical energy storage system on aerogel or nanotube scaffold

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farmer, Joseph C; Stadermann, Michael

    2013-11-12

    A monolithic three-dimensional electrochemical energy storage system is provided on an aerogel or nanotube scaffold. An anode, separator, cathode, and cathodic current collector are deposited on the aerogel or nanotube scaffold.

  1. Monolithic silica aerogel - material design on the nano-scale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Kristiansen, Finn Harken

    structure of aerogel could be used for gas filters in the 20 to 100 nm region. - The sound velocity within aerogel is in the range of 100 to 300 m/s, which should be one of lowest for an inorganic material. Due to the low density, low acoustic impedance of aerogel could help boost the efficiency...... of piezoelectric transducers. - Other applications could be; waste encapsulation, spacers for vacuum insulation panels, membranes, etc. Department of Civil Engineering is co-ordinator of a current EU FP5 research project1, which deals with the application of aerogel as transparent insulation materials in windows....... Due to the excellent optical and thermal properties of aerogel, it is possible to develop windows with both high insulation and high transmittance, which is impossible applying the conventional window techniques, i.e. extra layers of glass, low-e coatings and gas fillings. It can be shown...

  2. Hexadecane trapped in nano-pores of silica-aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slavikova, B.; Jesenak, K.; Iskrova, M.; Majernik, V.; Sausa, O.; Kristiak, J.

    2009-01-01

    Ways of filling of the high-porous silica-aerogel with hydrocarbon C 16 H 34 and its efficient removal from the pores by physical method of the Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy were studied. As the most effective way to fill the SiO 2 aerogel appears through the implementation of a liquid phase, while the most appropriate way of removing of hexadecane is firing at an elevated temperature. Molecular system of hexadecane closed in nano-pores of silica-aerogel behaves otherwise than volume system of the same molecules. In the case of pure hexadecane phase transition was observed at 291 K, while solidification process is gradual with decrease of temperature in cetane trapped in pores of silica-aerogel. The results of the periods of life of o-Ps indicate greater turbidity in the pores of the molecular system compared to the volume sample of hexadecane.

  3. Simulation and Analysis of Mechanical Properties of Silica Aerogels: From Rationalization to Prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Hao; Zheng, Xiaoyang; Luo, Xuan; Yi, Yong; Yang, Fan

    2018-01-30

    Silica aerogels are highly porous 3D nanostructures and have exhibited excellent physio-chemical properties. Although silica aerogels have broad potential in many fields, the poor mechanical properties greatly limit further applications. In this study, we have applied the finite volume method (FVM) method to calculate the mechanical properties of silica aerogels with different geometric properties such as particle size, pore size, ligament diameter, etc. The FVM simulation results show that a power law correlation existing between relative density and mechanical properties (elastic modulus and yield stress) of silica aerogels, which are consistent with experimental and literature studies. In addition, depending on the relative densities, different strategies are proposed in order to synthesize silica aerogels with better mechanical performance by adjusting the distribution of pore size and ligament diameter of aerogels. Finally, the results suggest that it is possible to synthesize silica aerogels with ultra-low density as well as high strength and stiffness as long as the textural features are well controlled. It is believed that the FVM simulation methodology could be a valuable tool to study mechanical performance of silica aerogel based materials in the future.

  4. Simulation and Analysis of Mechanical Properties of Silica Aerogels: From Rationalization to Prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Ma

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Silica aerogels are highly porous 3D nanostructures and have exhibited excellent physio-chemical properties. Although silica aerogels have broad potential in many fields, the poor mechanical properties greatly limit further applications. In this study, we have applied the finite volume method (FVM method to calculate the mechanical properties of silica aerogels with different geometric properties such as particle size, pore size, ligament diameter, etc. The FVM simulation results show that a power law correlation existing between relative density and mechanical properties (elastic modulus and yield stress of silica aerogels, which are consistent with experimental and literature studies. In addition, depending on the relative densities, different strategies are proposed in order to synthesize silica aerogels with better mechanical performance by adjusting the distribution of pore size and ligament diameter of aerogels. Finally, the results suggest that it is possible to synthesize silica aerogels with ultra-low density as well as high strength and stiffness as long as the textural features are well controlled. It is believed that the FVM simulation methodology could be a valuable tool to study mechanical performance of silica aerogel based materials in the future.

  5. Evacuation and assembly of aerogel glazings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev

    1999-01-01

    The application of monolithic silica aerogel as transparent insulation material for windows has been investigated for some years. It has been realised that a major problem of an industrial production of aerogel glazings will be the time for evacuation of the aerogel material. However, in a previous...... process, it can be considered as semi-online, and especially the capital cost is significantly lower for this method in comparison with a true online process. So hereby, a major obstacle is overcome with respect to a first industrial production of aerogel glazings.The apparatus has been constructed...

  6. An environmentally benign route for the development of compressible, thermally insulating and fire retardant aerogels through self-assembling the silk fibroin biopolymer inside the silica structure - An approach towards 3D printing of aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maleki, Hajar; Montes, Susan; Hayati-Roodbari, Nastaran; Putz, Florian; Huesing, Nicola

    2018-06-04

    printed structures had comparable properties to their monolith counterparts, improving post-synthesis processing or shaping of the silica aerogels significantly. Finally, the hybrid silica-SF aerogels reported in here represents significant progress for mechanically customized and robust aerogel for multi-purpose applications namely as customized thermal insulation material or as dual porous open-cell biomaterial used in regenerative medicine.

  7. Functionalized silica aerogels for gas-phase purification, sensing, and catalysis: A review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amonette, James E.; Matyáš, Josef

    2017-09-01

    Silica aerogels have a rich history and a unique, fascinating gas-phase chemistry that has lent them to many diverse applications. This review starts with a brief discussion of the fundamental issues driving the movement of gases in silica aerogels and then proceeds to provide an overview of the work that has been done with respect to the purification of gases, sensing of individual gases, and uses of silica aerogels as catalysts for gas-phase reactions. Salient features of the research behind these different applications are presented, and, where appropriate, critical aspects that affect the practical use of the aerogels are noted. Specific sections under the gas-purification category focus on the removal of airborne nanoparticles, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur gases and radioactive iodine from gas streams. The use of silica aerogels as sensors for humidity, oxygen, hydrocarbons, volatile acids and bases, various non-ammoniacal nitrogen gases, and viral particles is discussed. With respect to catalysis, the demonstrated use of silica aerogels as supports for oxidation, Fischer-Tropsch, alkane isomerization, and hydrogenation reactions is reviewed, along with a section on untested catalytic formulations involving silica aerogels. A short section focuses on recent developments in thermomolecular Knudsen compressor pumps using silica aerogel membranes. The review continues with an overview of the production methods, locations of manufacturing facilities globally, and a brief discussion of the economics before concluding with a few remarks about the present and future trends revealed by the work presented.

  8. Synthesis of aerogel tiles with high light scattering length

    CERN Document Server

    Danilyuk, A F; Okunev, A G; Onuchin, A P; Shaurman, S A

    1999-01-01

    The possibility of aerogel tiles production for RICH detectors is described. Monolithic blocks of silica aerogel were synthesized by two-step sol-gel processing of tetraethoxysilane Si(OEt) sub 4 followed by high temperature supercritical drying with organic solvent. The important characteristic of aerogel is the light scattering length. In the wide range of refraction indexes the light scattering length exceeds 4 cm at 400 nm.

  9. Silica aerogel Cherenkov counter for the KEK B-factory experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Sumiyoshi, T; Enomoto, R; Iijima, T; Suda, R; Leonidopoulos, C; Marlow, D R; Prebys, E; Kawabata, R; Kawai, H; Ooba, T; Nanao, M; Suzuki, K; Ogawa, S; Murakami, A; Khan, M H R

    1999-01-01

    Low-refractive-index silica aerogel is a convenient radiator for threshold-type Cherenkov counters, which are used for particle identification in high-energy physics experiments. For the BELLE detector at the KEK B-Factory we have produced about 2 m sup 3 of hydrophobic silica aerogels of n=1.01-1.03 using a new production method. The particle identification capability of the aerogel Cherenkov counters was tested and 3 sigma pion/proton separation has been achieved at 3.5 GeV/c. Radiation hardness of the aerogels was confirmed up to 9.8 Mrad. The Aerogel Cherenkov counter system (ACC) was successfully installed in the BELLE just before this conference.

  10. Preparation of sponge-reinforced silica aerogels from tetraethoxysilane and methyltrimethoxysilane for oil/water separation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ming; Jiang, Hongyi; Xu, Dong

    2018-04-01

    Polyurethane sponge-reinforced silica aerogels based on tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) were fabricated by a facile method through sol-gel reaction followed by ambient pressure drying. In sponge-reinforced silica aerogels, nanoporous aerogel aggregates fill in the pores of polyurethane sponge. The sponge-reinforced aerogels are hydrophobic and oleophilic and show extremely high absorption for machine oil (10.6 g g‑1 for TEOS-based aerogel and 9.2 g g‑1 for MTMS-based aerogel). In addition, the sponge-reinforced aerogel composites exhibit notable improvements with regards to mechanical properties. The compressive strength was enhanced obviously up to about 349 KPa for TEOS-based aerogel and 60 KPa for MTMS-based aerogel. Specially, sponge-reinforced silica aerogels based on MTMS drastically shrank upon loading and then recovered to the original size when unloaded. The property differences of the sponge-reinforced silica aerogels caused by the two precursors were discussed in terms of morphologies, pore size distributions and chemical structure.

  11. Assessment of Methods to Consolidate Iodine-Loaded Silver-Functionalized Silica Aerogel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matyas, Josef; Engler, Robert K.

    2013-09-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy is currently investigating alternative sorbents for the removal and immobilization of radioiodine from the gas streams in a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. One of these new sorbents, Ag0-functionalized silica aerogels, shows great promise as a potential replacement for Ag-bearing mordenites because of its high selectivity and sorption capacity for iodine. Moreover, a feasible consolidation of iodine-loaded Ag0-functionalized silica aerogels to a durable SiO2-based waste form makes this aerogel an attractive choice for sequestering radioiodine. This report provides a preliminary assessment of the methods that can be used to consolidate iodine-loaded Ag0-functionalized silica aerogels into a final waste form. In particular, it focuses on experimental investigation of densification of as prepared Ag0-functionalized silica aerogels powders, with or without organic moiety and with or without sintering additive (colloidal silica), with three commercially available techniques: 1) hot uniaxial pressing (HUP), 2) hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and 3) spark plasma sintering (SPS). The densified products were evaluated with helium gas pycnometer for apparent density, with the Archimedes method for apparent density and open porosity, and with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) for the extent of densification and distribution of individual elements. The preliminary investigation of HUP, HIP, and SPS showed that these sintering methods can effectively consolidate powders of Ag0-functionalized silica aerogel into products of near-theoretical density. Also, removal of organic moiety and adding 5.6 mass% of colloidal silica to Ag0-functionalized silica aerogel powders before processing provided denser products. Furthermore, the ram travel data for SPS indicated that rapid consolidation of powders can be performed at temperatures below 950°C.

  12. Preparation and characterization of silica aerogels from diatomite via ambient pressure drying

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Baomin; Ma, Hainan; Song, Kai

    2014-07-01

    The silica aerogels were successfully fabricated under ambient pressure from diatomite. The influence of different dilution ratios of diatomite filtrate on physical properties of aerogels were studied. The microstructure, surface functional groups, thermal stability, morphology and mechanical properties of silica aerogels based on diatomite were investigated by BET adsorption, FT-IR, DTA-TG, FESEM, TEM, and nanoindentation methods. The results indicate that the filtrate diluted with distilled water in a proportion of 1: 2 could give silica aerogels in the largest size with highest transparency. The obtained aerogels with density of 0.122-0.203 g/m3 and specific surface area of 655.5-790.7 m2/g are crack free amorphous solids and exhibited a sponge-like structure. Moreover, the peak pore size resided at 9 nm. The initial aerogels were hydrophobic, when being heat-treated around 400°C, the aerogels were transformed into hydrophilic ones. The obtained aerogel has good mechanical properties.

  13. Synthesis of nano-Au doped SiO2 aerogels by seeding method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ren Hongbo; Wan Xiaobo; Zhang Lin; Du Aiming; Xiu Peng

    2006-01-01

    A new approach to synthesize gold nano cluster doped aerogel on the basis of surface-catalyzed reduction of metal ions was described. Au nano particles were formed in a silica aerogel matrix by hydroxylamine seeding method of reducing gold ions on the silica colloidal surface. Subsequently, the pH value of system was adjusted to about 7-8, the gel formed within 2 h. After aging for 2 d, the gels were washed in aceton, and then dried supercritically (from CO 2 ) to yield aerogels. The reduction process was attributed to hydroxylamine-induced surface catalysis. Au clusters in the aerogel monoliths were characterized with optical adsorption, transmission electron microscopy. These techniques have shown the cluster size and weight content in the aerogels. Brunauer-emmett-teller surface area measurements show that the specific surface area of silica aerogels and doped aerogels are higher than 800 m 2 /g. (authors)

  14. Synthesis and Textural Characterization of Mesoporous and Meso-/Macroporous Silica Monoliths Obtained by Spinodal Decomposition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Galarneau

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Silica monoliths featuring either mesopores or flow-through macropores and mesopores in their skeleton are prepared by combining spinodal phase separation and sol-gel condensation. The macroporous network is first generated by phase separation in acidic medium in the presence of polyethyleneoxides while mesoporosity is engineered in a second step in alkaline medium, possibly in the presence of alkylammonium cations as surfactants. The mesoporous monoliths, also referred as aerogels, are obtained in the presence of alkylpolyethylene oxides in acidic medium without the use of supercritical drying. The impact of the experimental conditions on pore architecture of the monoliths regarding the shape, the ordering, the size and the connectivity of the mesopores is comprehensively discussed based on a critical appraisal of the different models used for textural analysis.

  15. Bioinspired Synthesis of Monolithic and Layered Aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Xiao; Hassan, Khalil T; Harvey, Alan; Kulijer, Dejan; Oila, Adrian; Hunt, Michael R C; Šiller, Lidija

    2018-04-25

    Aerogels are the least dense and most porous materials known to man, with potential applications from lightweight superinsulators to smart energy materials. To date their use has been seriously hampered by their synthesis methods, which are laborious and expensive. Taking inspiration from the life cycle of the damselfly, a novel ambient pressure-drying approach is demonstrated in which instead of employing low-surface-tension organic solvents to prevent pore collapse during drying, sodium bicarbonate solution is used to generate pore-supporting carbon dioxide in situ, significantly reducing energy, time, and cost in aerogel production. The generic applicability of this readily scalable new approach is demonstrated through the production of granules, monoliths, and layered solids with a number of precursor materials. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Monolithic lithium-based aerogels via dispersed inorganic sol-gel method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiao Shufang; Zhou Bin; Du Ai; Xu Xiang; Yang Xiaoyun; Shen Jun; Wu Guangming; Zhang Zhihua; Wan Huijun

    2008-01-01

    Monolithic lithium-based aerogels were prepared by poly acrylic acid (PAA) and propylene oxide (PO) via the dispersed inorganic sol-gel method and drying with CO 2 supercritical fluid dry process. The density of the prepared sample is about 150 g/m 3 . The microstructure of the lithium-based aerogels was characterized by TEM, IR, XPS and BET. The results show that the material mainly contains Li, C and O element s. BET surface area is up to 18.9 m 2 /g. (authors)

  17. Optically Transparent Thermally Insulating Silica Aerogels for Solar Thermal Insulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Günay, A Alperen; Kim, Hannah; Nagarajan, Naveen; Lopez, Mateusz; Kantharaj, Rajath; Alsaati, Albraa; Marconnet, Amy; Lenert, Andrej; Miljkovic, Nenad

    2018-04-18

    Rooftop solar thermal collectors have the potential to meet residential heating demands if deployed efficiently at low solar irradiance (i.e., 1 sun). The efficiency of solar thermal collectors depends on their ability to absorb incoming solar energy and minimize thermal losses. Most techniques utilize a vacuum gap between the solar absorber and the surroundings to eliminate conduction and convection losses, in combination with surface coatings to minimize reradiation losses. Here, we present an alternative approach that operates at atmospheric pressure with simple, black, absorbing surfaces. Silica based aerogels coated on black surfaces have the potential to act as simple and inexpensive solar thermal collectors because of their high transmission to solar radiation and low transmission to thermal radiation. To demonstrate their heat-trapping properties, we fabricated tetramethyl orthosilicate-based silica aerogels. A hydrophilic aerogel with a thickness of 1 cm exhibited a solar-averaged transmission of 76% and thermally averaged transmission of ≈1% (at 100 °C). To minimize unwanted solar absorption by O-H groups, we functionalized the aerogel to be hydrophobic, resulting in a solar-averaged transmission of 88%. To provide a deeper understanding of the link between aerogel properties and overall efficiency, we developed a coupled radiative-conductive heat transfer model and used it to predict solar thermal performance. Instantaneous solar thermal efficiencies approaching 55% at 1 sun and 80 °C were predicted. This study sheds light on the applicability of silica aerogels on black coatings for solar thermal collectors and offers design priorities for next-generation solar thermal aerogels.

  18. Alumina/silica aerogel with zinc chloride as an alkylation catalyst

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DEJAN U. SKALA

    2001-10-01

    Full Text Available The alumina/silica with zinc chloride aerogel alkylation catalyst was obtained using a one step sol-gel synthesis, and subsequent drying with supercritical carbon dioxide. The aerogel catalyst activity was found to be higher compared to the corresponding xerogel catalyst, as a result of the higher aerogel surface area, total pore volume and favourable pore size distribution. Mixed Al–O–Si bonds were present in both gel catalyst types. Activation by thermal treatment in air was needed prior to catalytic alkylation, due to the presence of residual organic groups on the aerogel surface. The optimal activation temperature was found to be in the range 185–225°C, while higher temperatures resulted in the removal of zinc chloride from the surface of the aerogel catalyst with a consequential decrease in the catalytic activity. On varying the zinc chloride content, the catalytic activity of the aerogel catalyst exhibited a maximum. High zinc chloride contents decreased the catalytic activity of the aerogel catalyst as the result of the pores of the catalyst being plugged with this compound, and the separation of the alumina/silica support into Al-rich and Si-rich phases. The surface area, total pore volume, pore size distribution and zinc chloride content had a similar influence on the activity of the aerogel catalyst as was the case of xerogel catalyst and supported zinc chloride catalysts.

  19. Modeling silica aerogel optical performance by determining its radiative properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Lin; Yang, Sungwoo; Bhatia, Bikram; Strobach, Elise; Wang, Evelyn N.

    2016-02-01

    Silica aerogel has been known as a promising candidate for high performance transparent insulation material (TIM). Optical transparency is a crucial metric for silica aerogels in many solar related applications. Both scattering and absorption can reduce the amount of light transmitted through an aerogel slab. Due to multiple scattering, the transmittance deviates from the Beer-Lambert law (exponential attenuation). To better understand its optical performance, we decoupled and quantified the extinction contributions of absorption and scattering separately by identifying two sets of radiative properties. The radiative properties are deduced from the measured total transmittance and reflectance spectra (from 250 nm to 2500 nm) of synthesized aerogel samples by solving the inverse problem of the 1-D Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE). The obtained radiative properties are found to be independent of the sample geometry and can be considered intrinsic material properties, which originate from the aerogel's microstructure. This finding allows for these properties to be directly compared between different samples. We also demonstrate that by using the obtained radiative properties, we can model the photon transport in aerogels of arbitrary shapes, where an analytical solution is difficult to obtain.

  20. Modeling silica aerogel optical performance by determining its radiative properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Zhao

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Silica aerogel has been known as a promising candidate for high performance transparent insulation material (TIM. Optical transparency is a crucial metric for silica aerogels in many solar related applications. Both scattering and absorption can reduce the amount of light transmitted through an aerogel slab. Due to multiple scattering, the transmittance deviates from the Beer-Lambert law (exponential attenuation. To better understand its optical performance, we decoupled and quantified the extinction contributions of absorption and scattering separately by identifying two sets of radiative properties. The radiative properties are deduced from the measured total transmittance and reflectance spectra (from 250 nm to 2500 nm of synthesized aerogel samples by solving the inverse problem of the 1-D Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE. The obtained radiative properties are found to be independent of the sample geometry and can be considered intrinsic material properties, which originate from the aerogel’s microstructure. This finding allows for these properties to be directly compared between different samples. We also demonstrate that by using the obtained radiative properties, we can model the photon transport in aerogels of arbitrary shapes, where an analytical solution is difficult to obtain.

  1. Low-temperature specific-heat and thermal-conductivity of silica aerogels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bernasconi, A.; Sleator, T.; Posselt, D.

    1992-01-01

    Specific heat, C(p), and thermal conductivity, lambda, have been measured on a series of base-catalyzed silica aerogels at temperatures between 0.05 and 20 K. Results for both C(p)(T) and lambda(T) confirm that the different length-scale regions observed in the aerogel structure are reflected...

  2. Fractal Structures on Silica Aerogels Containing Titanium: A Small Angle Neutron Scattering Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Widya Sari; Dian Fitriyani; Abdul Aziz Mohamed; Noordin Ibrahim

    2009-01-01

    Full text: The fractal structure of silica aerogels containing titanium has been investigated by means of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique. The SANS experiments were conducted using a 36 meter SANS BATAN spectrometer (SMARTer) in Serpong, Indonesia in the range of momentum transfer Q, 0.006 -1 ) < 0.3. The power-law for a fractal object scattering Q-D observed from all measured samples. The Fourier transform of pattern I(Q) a pair correlation model function was implemented in analyzing the structure factor from the power-law scattering profiles. The results are showing that the silica aerogels containing titanium has a mass fractal where its dimension DM is larger than the pure silica aerogels. The mass fractal dimension of silica aerogels containing titanium is relatively constant between 2.23 to 2.40 with the decrease of acid concentrations during a sol-gel process and formed a nanometer size of aggregate. Those fractal structures were simulated using a Delphi language and the results are presented in this paper. (author)

  3. Ambient pressure dried tetrapropoxysilane-based silica aerogels with high specific surface area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parale, Vinayak G.; Han, Wooje; Jung, Hae-Noo-Ree; Lee, Kyu-Yeon; Park, Hyung-Ho

    2018-01-01

    In the present paper, we report the synthesis of tetrapropoxysilane (TPOS)-based silica aerogels with high surface area and large pore volume. The silica aerogels were prepared by a two-step sol-gel process followed by surface modification via a simple ambient pressure drying approach. In order to minimize drying shrinkage and obtain hydrophobic aerogels, the surface of the alcogels was modified using trichloromethylsilane as a silylating agent. The effect of the sol-gel compositional parameters on the polymerization of aerogels prepared by TPOS, one of the precursors belonging to the Si(OR)4 family, was reported for the first time. The oxalic acid and NH4OH concentrations were adjusted to achieve good-quality aerogels with high surface area, low density, and high transparency. Controlling the hydrolysis and condensation reactions of the TPOS precursor turned out to be the most important factor to determine the pore characteristics of the aerogel. Highly transparent aerogels with high specific surface area (938 m2/g) and low density (0.047 g/cm3) could be obtained using an optimized TPOS/MeOH molar ratio with appropriate concentrations of oxalic acid and NH4OH.

  4. Synthesis and Characterization of Fibre Reinforced Silica Aerogel Blankets for Thermal Protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Chakraborty

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS as the source of silica, fibre reinforced silica aerogels were synthesized via fast ambient pressure drying using methanol (MeOH, trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS, ammonium fluoride (NH4F, and hexane. The molar ratio of TEOS/MeOH/(COOH2/NH4F was kept constant at 1 : 38 : 3.73 × 10−5 : 0.023 and the gel was allowed to form inside the highly porous meta-aramid fibrous batting. The wet gel surface was chemically modified (silylation process using various concentrations of TMCS in hexane in the range of 1 to 20% by volume. The fibre reinforced silica aerogel blanket was obtained subsequently through atmospheric pressure drying. The aerogel blanket samples were characterized by density, thermal conductivity, hydrophobicity (contact angle, and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The radiant heat resistance of the aerogel blankets was examined and compared with nonaerogel blankets. It has been observed that, compared to the ordinary nonaerogel blankets, the aerogel blankets showed a 58% increase in the estimated burn injury time and thus ensure a much better protection from heat and fire hazards. The effect of varying the concentration of TMCS on the estimated protection time has been examined. The improved thermal stability and the superior thermal insulation of the flexible aerogel blankets lead to applications being used for occupations that involve exposure to hazards of thermal radiation.

  5. Refractive index of silica aerogel: Uniformity and dispersion law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Perego, D.L.; Storaci, B.

    2008-01-01

    Two methods for the measurement of the uniformity of the refractive index n within a single block of silica aerogel are described. One is based on the deflection of a laser beam induced by transverse index gradients. The second exploits the Cherenkov effect, measuring the emission angle of photons radiated by 500 MeV electrons traversing the aerogel. The beam can scan the full aerogel surface providing information on point to point variations of n. The measurement of the dispersion law n(λ) is also reported. An Xe lamp coupled to a diffraction grating provides the monochromatic source. The index for each λ is measured by the prism method at a corner of an aerogel sample. A Sellmeier functional form for n(λ) is assumed, and the parameters best fitting the experimental data are given

  6. Effect of various structure directing agents on the physicochemical properties of the silica aerogels prepared at an ambient pressure

    KAUST Repository

    Sarawade, Pradip

    2013-12-01

    We studied the effects of various surfactants on the textural properties (BET surface area, pore size, and pore volume) of the silica aerogels prepared at an ambient pressure. A simple surface modification of silica gel prepared at an ambient pressure through hydrolysis and polycondensation of TEOS as asilica precursor was conducted using various structure directing agents. The treatment was found to induce a significant difference in the porosity of the silica aerogel. Highly porous silica aerogels with bimodal porous structures were prepared by modifying the surface of the silica wet-gel (alcogel) with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) in order to preserve its porosity. The samples were analyzed by small-angle X-ray scattering and nitrogen adsorption. In this work, a possible new type of highly porous hydrophobic silica aerogel with a bimodal porous structure is presented. A hydrophilic extremely porous (high surface area and large pore volume) silica aerogel was obtained by heating the as-synthesized hydrophobic silica aerogel at 400°C for 1 h. There was a significant effect of structure directing agent on the textural properties, such as specific surface area, pore size distribution and cumulative pore volume of the silicaaerogels. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Effect of various structure directing agents on the physicochemical properties of the silica aerogels prepared at an ambient pressure

    KAUST Repository

    Sarawade, Pradip; Shao, Godlistennamwel; Quang, Dangviet; Kim, Heetaik

    2013-01-01

    We studied the effects of various surfactants on the textural properties (BET surface area, pore size, and pore volume) of the silica aerogels prepared at an ambient pressure. A simple surface modification of silica gel prepared at an ambient pressure through hydrolysis and polycondensation of TEOS as asilica precursor was conducted using various structure directing agents. The treatment was found to induce a significant difference in the porosity of the silica aerogel. Highly porous silica aerogels with bimodal porous structures were prepared by modifying the surface of the silica wet-gel (alcogel) with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) in order to preserve its porosity. The samples were analyzed by small-angle X-ray scattering and nitrogen adsorption. In this work, a possible new type of highly porous hydrophobic silica aerogel with a bimodal porous structure is presented. A hydrophilic extremely porous (high surface area and large pore volume) silica aerogel was obtained by heating the as-synthesized hydrophobic silica aerogel at 400°C for 1 h. There was a significant effect of structure directing agent on the textural properties, such as specific surface area, pore size distribution and cumulative pore volume of the silicaaerogels. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Sol-gel derived flexible silica aerogel as selective adsorbent for water decontamination from crude oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abolghasemi Mahani, A; Motahari, S; Mohebbi, A

    2018-04-01

    Oil spills are the most important threat to the sea ecosystem. The present study is an attempt to investigate the effects of sol-gel parameters on seawater decontamination from crude oil by use of flexible silica aerogel. To this goal, methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) based silica aerogels were prepared by two-step acid-base catalyzed sol-gel process, involving ambient pressure drying (APD) method. To investigate the effects of sol-gel parameters, the aerogels were prepared under two different acidic and basic pH values (i.e. 4 and 8) and varied ethanol/MTMS molar ratios from 5 to 15. The adsorption capacity of the prepared aerogels was evaluated for two heavy and light commercial crude oils under multiple adsorption-desorption cycles. To reduce process time, desorption cycles were carried out by using roll milling for the first time. At optimum condition, silica aerogels are able to uptake heavy and light crude oils with the order of 16.7 and 13.7, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Synthesis, Processing, and Characterization of Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Cross-Linked Silica, Organic Polyimide, and Inorganic Aluminosilicate Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Baochau N.; Guo, Haiquan N.; McCorkle, Linda S.

    2014-01-01

    As aerospace applications become ever more demanding, novel insulation materials with lower thermal conductivity, lighter weight and higher use temperature are required to fit the aerospace application needs. Having nanopores and high porosity, aerogels are superior thermal insulators, among other things. The use of silica aerogels in general is quite restricted due to their inherent fragility, hygroscopic nature, and poor mechanical properties, especially in extereme aerospace environments. Our research goal is to develop aerogels with better mechanical and environmental stability for a variety of aeronautic and space applications including space suit insulation for planetary surface missions, insulation for inflatable structures for habitats, inflatable aerodynamic decelerators for entry, descent and landing (EDL) operations, and cryotank insulation for advance space propulsion systems. Different type of aerogels including organic-inorganic polymer reinforced (hybrid) silica-based aerogels, polyimide aerogels and inorganic aluminosilicate aerogels have been developed and examined.

  10. Selective oxidation of cyclohexene through gold functionalized silica monolith microreactors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alotaibi, Mohammed T.; Taylor, Martin J.; Liu, Dan; Beaumont, Simon K.; Kyriakou, Georgios

    2016-04-01

    Two simple, reproducible methods of preparing evenly distributed Au nanoparticle containing mesoporous silica monoliths are investigated. These Au nanoparticle containing monoliths are subsequently investigated as flow reactors for the selective oxidation of cyclohexene. In the first strategy, the silica monolith was directly impregnated with Au nanoparticles during the formation of the monolith. The second approach was to pre-functionalize the monolith with thiol groups tethered within the silica mesostructure. These can act as evenly distributed anchors for the Au nanoparticles to be incorporated by flowing a Au nanoparticle solution through the thiol functionalized monolith. Both methods led to successfully achieving even distribution of Au nanoparticles along the length of the monolith as demonstrated by ICP-OES. However, the impregnation method led to strong agglomeration of the Au nanoparticles during subsequent heating steps while the thiol anchoring procedure maintained the nanoparticles in the range of 6.8 ± 1.4 nm. Both Au nanoparticle containing monoliths as well as samples with no Au incorporated were tested for the selective oxidation of cyclohexene under constant flow at 30 °C. The Au free materials were found to be catalytically inactive with Au being the minimum necessary requirement for the reaction to proceed. The impregnated Au-containing monolith was found to be less active than the thiol functionalized Au-containing material, attributable to the low metal surface area of the Au nanoparticles. The reaction on the thiol functionalized Au-containing monolith was found to depend strongly on the type of oxidant used: tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) was more active than H2O2, likely due to the thiol induced hydrophobicity in the monolith.

  11. Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Novolac-Silica Hybrid Aerogels Prepared by Sol-Gel Polymerization in Solvent-Saturated Vapor Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamad Mehdi Seraji1, Seraji

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays organic–inorganic hybrid aerogel materials have attracted increasing interests due to improved thermal and mechanical properties. In the present research, initially, novolac type phenolic resin-silica hybrid gels with different solid concentrations were synthesized using sol-gel polymerization in solvent-saturatedvapor atmosphere. The hybrid gels were dried at air atmosphere through ambient drying process. This method removed the need for costly and risky supercritical drying process. The yields of the obtained hybrid aerogels increased with less shrinkage in comparison with conventional sol-gel process. The precursor of silica phase in this study was tetraethoxysilane and inexpensive novolac resin was used as a reinforcing phase. The results of FTIR analysis confirmed the simultaneous formation of silica and novolac gels in the hybrid systems. The resultant hybrid aerogels showed a nanostructure hybrid network with high porosity (above 80% and low density (below 0.25 g/cm3. Nonetheless, higher content of silica resulted in more shrinkage in the hybrid aerogel structure due to the tendency of the silica network to shrink more during gelation and drying process. The SEM images of samples exhibited a continuous network of interconnected colloidal particles formed during sol-gel polymerization with mean particle size of less than 100 nanometers. Si mapping analysis showed good distribution of silica phase throughout the hybrid structure. The results demonstrated improvements in insulation properties and thermal stability of novolac-silica aerogel with increasing the silica content. The results of compressive strength showed that the mechanical properties of samples declined with increasing the silica content.

  12. Modeling of phonon heat transfer in spherical segment of silica aerogel grains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Ya-Fen; Xia, Xin-Lin, E-mail: xiaxl@hit.edu.cn; Tan, He-Ping, E-mail: tanheping@hit.edu.cn; Liu, Hai-Dong

    2013-07-01

    Phonon heat transfer in spherical segment of nano silica aerogel grains is investigated by the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). For various sizes of grains, the temperature distribution and the thermal conductivity are obtained by the numerical simulation, in which the size effects of the gap surface are also considered. The results indicate that the temperature distribution in the silica aerogel grain depends strongly on the size. Both the decreases in the diameter of spherical segment and the ratio of the diameter of gap surface to the diameter of spherical segment reduce its effective thermal conductivity obviously. In addition, the phonon scattering at the boundary surfaces becomes more prominent when grain size decreases.

  13. Modeling of phonon heat transfer in spherical segment of silica aerogel grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Ya-Fen; Xia, Xin-Lin; Tan, He-Ping; Liu, Hai-Dong

    2013-01-01

    Phonon heat transfer in spherical segment of nano silica aerogel grains is investigated by the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). For various sizes of grains, the temperature distribution and the thermal conductivity are obtained by the numerical simulation, in which the size effects of the gap surface are also considered. The results indicate that the temperature distribution in the silica aerogel grain depends strongly on the size. Both the decreases in the diameter of spherical segment and the ratio of the diameter of gap surface to the diameter of spherical segment reduce its effective thermal conductivity obviously. In addition, the phonon scattering at the boundary surfaces becomes more prominent when grain size decreases

  14. A Novel Environmental Route to Ambient Pressure Dried Thermal Insulating Silica Aerogel via Recycled Coal Gangue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pinghua Zhu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Coal gangue, one of the main hazardous emissions of purifying coal from coalmine industry, is rich in silica and alumina. However, the recycling of the waste is normally restricted by less efficient techniques and low attractive output; the utilization of such waste is still staying lower than 15%. In this work, the silica aerogel materials were synthesized by using a precursor extracted from recycled silicon-rich coal gangue, followed by a single-step surface silylation and ambient pressure drying. A low density (~0.19 g/cm3 nanostructured aerogel with a 3D open porous microstructure and high surface area (~690 m2/g was synthesized, which presents a superior thermal insulation performance (~26.5 mW·m−1·K−1 of a plane packed of 4-5 mm granules which was confirmed by transient hot-wire method. This study offers a new facile route to the synthesis of insulating aerogel material by recycling solid waste coal gangue and presents a potential cost reduction of industrial production of silica aerogels.

  15. Low-temperature specific heat and thermal conductivity of silica aerogels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sleator, T.; Bernasconi, A.; Posselt, D.

    1991-01-01

    Specific-heat and thermal-conductivity measurements were made on a series of base-catalyzed silica aerogels at temperatures between 0.05 and 20 K. Evidence for a crossover between regimes of characteristically different excitations was observed. The data analysis indicates a "bump" in the density...

  16. Preparation of silica aerogel for Cerenkov counters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poelz, G.; Riethmueller, R.

    1981-09-01

    Aerogel of silica was produced with an index of refraction of n = 1.024 to equip the TASSO Cerenkov detector with 1700 litres of this radiator medium. In the production process, which is described in detail, different parameters were varied to determine their influence on the shape and the optical quality of the aerogel samples. With the present equipment samples with a size of 17 x 17 x 2.3 cm 3 were manufactured at a rate of 144 pieces per week. A production efficiency of about 90% was obtained. The index of refraction for all samples around n = 1.024 is distributed with sigmasub(n) = 1.3 x 10 -3 . They have an optical transmission length of Λ = 2.64 cm at a wavelength lambda = 438 nm with sigmasub(Λ) = 0.22 cm. For samples with n = 1.017, Λ is found to be about 30% higher. (orig.) [de

  17. Preliminary study of silica aerogel as a gas-equivalent material in ionization chambers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caresana, M.; Zorloni, G.

    2017-12-01

    Since about two decades, a renewed interest on aerogels has risen. These peculiar materials show fairly unique properties. Thus, they are under investigation for both scientific and commercial purposes and new optimized production processes are studied. In this work, the possibility of using aerogel in the field of radiation detection is explored. The idea is to substitute the gas filling in a ionization chamber with the aerogel. The material possesses a density about 100 times greater than ambient pressure air. Where as the open-pore structure should allow the charge carriers to move freely. Small hydrophobic silica aerogel samples were studied. A custom ionization chamber, capable of working both with aerogel or in the classic gas set up, was built. The response of the chamber in current mode was investigated using an X-ray tube. The results obtained showed, under proper conditions, an enhancement of about 60 times of the current signal in the aerogel configuration with respect to the classic gas one. Moreover, some unusual behaviours were observed, i.e. time inertia of the signal and super-/sub-linear current response with respect to the dose rate. While testing high electric fields, aerogel configuration seemed to enhance the Townsend's effects. In order to represent the observed trends, a trapping-detrapping model is proposed, which is capable to predict semi-empirically the steady state currents measured. The time evolution of the signal is semi-quantitatively represented by the same model. The coefficients estimated by the fits are in agreement with similar trapping problems in the literature. In particular, a direct comparison between the benchmark of the FET silica gates and aerogel case endorses the idea that the same type of phenomenon occurs in the studied case.

  18. Hydrophobic and low density silica aerogels dried at ambient pressure using TEOS precursor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gurav, Jyoti L.; Rao, A. Venkateswara; Bangi, Uzma K.H.

    2009-01-01

    In the conventional ambient pressure drying of silica aerogels, tedious repetitive gel washing and solvent exchange steps (∼6 days) are involved. Therefore, in the present studies, we intended to reduce the processing time of TEOS based ambient pressure dried silica aerogels. Solvents such as methanol, hexane and Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) as surface chemical modification agents have been used. To get good quality aerogels in terms of low density, high porosity, high contact angle and low volume shrinkage in less processing time, we varied MeOH/TEOS, HMDZ/TEOS molar ratios, oxalic acid (A) and NH 4 OH (B) concentrations and stirring time from 1 to 27.7, 0.34 to 2.1, 0 to 0.1 M, 0 to 2 M and 15 to 90 min respectively. The transparent and low-density aerogels were obtained for TEOS:MeOH:acidic H 2 O:basic H 2 O:HMDZ molar ratio of 1:16.5:0.81:0.50:0.681 respectively. The thermal stability and hydrophobicity have been confirmed with Thermogravimetric and Differential Thermal (TG-DT) analyses and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Microstructural study was carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

  19. Method for producing metal oxide aerogels having densities less than 0. 02 g/cc

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillotson, T.M.; Poco, J.F.; Hrubesh, L.W.; Thomas, I.M.

    1994-01-04

    A two-step method is described for making transparent aerogels which have a density of less than 0.003 g/cm[sup 3] to those with a density of more than 0.8 g/cm[sup 3], by a sol/gel process and supercritical extraction. Condensed metal oxide intermediate made with purified reagents can be diluted to produce stable aerogels with a density of less than 0.02 g/cm[sup 3]. High temperature, direct supercritical extraction of the liquid phase of the gel produces hydrophobic aerogels which are stable at atmospheric moisture conditions. Monolithic, homogeneous silica aerogels with a density of less than 0.02 to higher than 0.8 g/cm[sup 3], with high thermal insulation capacity, improved mechanical strength and good optical transparency, are described. 7 figures.

  20. A new route for preparation of sodium-silicate-based hydrophobic silica aerogels via ambient-pressure drying

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bangi, Uzma K H; Rao, A Venkateswara; Rao, A Parvathy

    2008-01-01

    An in-depth investigation into the synthesis of hydrophobic silica aerogels prepared by the surface derivatization of wet gels followed by subsequent drying at ambient pressure is reported. The following sol-gel parameters were examined for their effect on the physical properties of the derived aerogels: number of gel washings with water, percentage of hexane or methanol in silylating mixture, molar ratio of tartaric acid: Na 2 SiO 3 , gel aging period, weight% of silica, trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) percentage, and silylation period. These parameters were varied from 1 to 4, 0 to 100%, 0.27 to 1.2, 0 to 4 h, 1.5 to 8 wt.%, 20 to 40% and 6 to 24 h, respectively. The properties of hydrophobic silica aerogels synthesized by this new route were investigated in terms of bulk density, percentage volume shrinkage, percentage porosity, thermal conductivity and contact angle with water, and by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The as-prepared hydrophobic silica aerogels exhibited high temperature stability (up to approximately 435 0 C) as measured by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA). The optimal sol-gel parameters were found to be a molar ratio of Na 2 SiO 3 :H 2 O : tartaric acid : TMCS of 1 : 146.67 : 0.86 : 9.46, an aging period of 3 h, four washings with water in 24 h and the use of a 50% hexane- or methanol-based silylating mixture. Aerogels prepared with these optimal parameters were found to exhibit 50% optical transparency in the visible range, 84 kg m -3 density, 0.090 W mK -1 thermal conductivity, 95% porosity and a contact angle of 146 0 with water

  1. The LHCb RICH silica aerogel performance with LHC data

    CERN Multimedia

    Perego, D L

    2010-01-01

    In the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider, powerful charged particle identification is performed by Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) technology. In order to cover the full geometric acceptance and the wide momentum range (1-100 GeV/c), two detectors with three Cherenkov radiators have been designed and installed. In the medium (10-40 GeV/c) and high (30-100 GeV/c) momentum range, gas radiators are used (C4F10 and CF4 respectively). In the low momentum range (1 to a few GeV/c) pion/kaon/proton separation will be done with photons produced in solid silica aerogel. A set of 16 tiles, with the large transverse dimensions ever (20x20 cm$^2$) and nominal refractive index 1.03 have been produced. The tiles have excellent optical properties and homogeneity of refractive index within the tile of ~1%. The first data collected at LHC are used to understand the behaviour of the RICH: preliminary results will be presented and discussed on the performance of silica aerogel and of the gas radiators C4F10 and CF4.

  2. Faraday rotation measurements in maghemite-silica aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taboada, E.; Real, R.P. del; Gich, M.; Roig, A.; Molins, E.

    2006-01-01

    Faraday rotation measurements have been performed on γ-Fe 2 O 3 /SiO 2 nanocomposite aerogels which are light, porous and transparent magnetic materials. The materials have been prepared by sol-gel polymerization of a silicon alkoxide, impregnation of the intermediate silica gel with a ferrous salt and supercritical drying of the gels. During supercritical evacuation of the solvent, spherical nanoparticles of iron oxide, with a mean particle diameter of 8.1±2.0 nm, are formed and are found to be homogenously distributed within the silica matrix. The specific Faraday rotation of the composite was measured at 0.6 T using polarized light of 810 nm, being 29.6 deg./cm. The changes in the plane of polarization of the transmitted light and the magnetization of the material present similar magnetic field dependencies and are characteristic of a superparamagnetic system

  3. Preparation and Characterization of Highly Spherical Silica-titania Aerogel Beads with High Surface Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YU Yu-xi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The silica-titania aerogel beads were synthesized through sol-gel reaction followed by supercritical drying, in which TEOS and TBT as co-precursors, EtOH as solvents, HAC and NH3·H2O as catalysts. The as-prepared aerogel beads were characterized by SEM,TEM,XRD,FT-IR,TG-DTA and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The results indicate that the diameter distribution of beads are between 1-8mm, the average diameter of beads is 3.5mm. The aerogel beads have nanoporous network structure with high specific surface area of 914.5m2/g, and the TiO2 particles are distributed in the aerogel uniformly, which keep the anatase crystal under high temperature.

  4. Fabrication and characterization of Aerogel-Polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) Insulation Film

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noh, Yeoung ah; Song, Sinae; Taik Kim, Hee

    2018-03-01

    The building has a large impact on the space heating demand and the indoor environment is affected by climate or daylight. Hence, silica aerogel has generally used as a film to reduce the coefficient of the window in the building. Silica aerogel is a suitable material to apply for insulation material with lower thermal conductivity than that of air to save interior energy. However expensive precursor and drying process were the main issue of the silica aerogel synthesis and practical usage. We attempt to fabricate aerogel insulation film for energy saving through the economic process under ambient pressure. Silica aerogel was synthesized from rice husk ash, which was an agricultural waste to be able to recycle. Taguchi design was used to optimize the parameters (amount of rice husk ash, pH, aging time) controlling the surface area of silica aerogel. The silica aerogel is prepared by sol-gel processing through acidic treatment and aging. The silica aerogel was obtained by modification of silica hydrogel surface and dry at ambient pressure. Finally, aerogel film was respectively fabricated by the different content of aerogel in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Silica aerogel obtained 21 – 24nm average particle size was analyzed by SEM and silica aerogel with high surface area (832.26 m2/g), pore size ( 3.30nm ) was characterized by BET. Then silica Aerogel – PDMS insulation film with thermal conductivity (0.002 W/mK) was analyzed by thermal wave system. The study demonstrates an eco-friendly and low-cost route toward silica – PDMS insulation film with low thermal conductivity (0.002 W/mK).

  5. Dynamic properties of silica aerogels as deduced from specific-heat and thermal-conductivity measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bernasconi, A.; Sleator, T.; Posselt, D.

    1992-01-01

    The specific heat C(p) and the thermal conductivity lambda of a series of base-catalyzed silica aerogels have been measured at temperatures between 0.05 and 20 K. The results confirm that the different length-scale regions observed in the aerogel structure are reflected in the dynamic behavior of...... SiO2 are most likely not due to fractal behavior....... the possibility of two spectral dimensions characterizing the fracton modes. Our data imply important differences between the physical mechanisms dominating the low-temperature behavior of aerogels and dense glasses, respectively. From our analysis we also conclude that the low-temperature properties of amorphous...

  6. Particle detection and identification through Cerenkov effect in silica aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engelmann, J.J.; Cantin, M.

    1978-01-01

    Cerenkov counters are largely used in high energy physics and in nuclear astrophysics to identify the charge of high energy particles and to measure their velocity. Good velocity resolution is obtained only near the Cerenkov threshold, which is directly dependent on the refractive index of the radiator. It is therefore very important to dispose of materials of various refractive indices. The silica aerogel allows to cover a range of indices between 1.015 and 1.2 which is intermediate between the indices given by gas and liquids. The samples most often built until now are hexagonal blocks of 1.06 refractive index and 0.24 g/cm 3 density. Blocks of one liter in volume have been assembled to form a mosaic of large dimension. For lower refractive indices, 1.015 for instance, the material becomes too brittle. So we have been led to use an aerogel sand made of aerogel grains of controlled granulometry. Radiators of both types blocks and sand are used in the franco-danish experiment to be launched aboard the NASA satellite HEAO-C in July 1979 [fr

  7. Aerogels in Aerospace: An Overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadiir Bheekhun

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Aerogels are highly porous structures prepared via a sol-gel process and supercritical drying technology. Among the classes of aerogels, silica aerogel exhibits the most remarkable physical properties, possessing lower density, thermal conductivity, refractive index, and dielectric constant than any solids. Its acoustical property is such that it can absorb the sound waves reducing speed to 100 m/s compared to 332 m/s for air. However, when it comes to commercialization, the result is not as expected. It seems that mass production, particularly in the aerospace industry, has dawdled behind. This paper highlights the evolution of aerogels in general and discusses the functions and significances of silica aerogel in previous astronautical applications. Future outer-space applications have been proposed as per the current research trend. Finally, the implementation of conventional silica aerogel in aeronautics is argued with an alternative known as Maerogel.

  8. Thermal Failure Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Silica Aerogels under Liquid Nitrogen Thermal Shock

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ai Du

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Aerogel materials are recognized as promising candidates for the thermal insulator and have achieved great successes for the aerospace applications. However, the harsh environment on the exoplanet, especially for the tremendous temperature difference, tends to affect the tenuous skeleton and performances of the aerogels. In this paper, an evaluation method was proposed to simulate the environment of exoplanet and study the influence on the fiber-reinforced silica aerogels with different supercritical point drying (SPD technology. Thermal conductivity, mechanical property and the microstructure were characterized for understanding the thermal failure mechanism. It was found that structure and thermal property were significantly influenced by the adsorbed water in the aerogels under the thermal shocks. The thermal conductivity of CO2-SPD aerogel increased 35.5% after the first shock and kept in a high value, while that of the ethanol-SPD aerogel increased only 19.5% and kept in a relatively low value. Pore size distribution results showed that after the first shock the peak pore size of the CO2-SPD aerogel increased from 18 nm to 25 nm due to the shrinkage of the skeleton, while the peak pore size of the ethanol-SPD aerogel kept at ~9 nm probably induced by the spring-back effect. An 80 °C treatment under vacuum was demonstrated to be an effective way for retaining the good performance of ethanol-SPD aerogels under the thermal shock. The thermal conductivity increases of the ethanol-SPD aerogels after 5 shocks decreased from ~30 to ~0% via vacuum drying, while the increase of the CO2-SPD aerogels via the same treatments remains ~28%. The high-strain hardening and low-strain soften behaviors further demonstrated the skeleton shrinkage of the CO2-SPD aerogel.

  9. Influence of Aerogel Morphology and Reinforcement Architecture on Gas Convection in Aerogel Composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurwitz, Frances I.; Meyer, Matthew; Guo, Haiquan; Rogers, Richard B.; DeMange, Jeffrey J.; Richardson, Hayley

    2016-01-01

    A variety of thermal protection applications require lightweight insulation capable of withstanding temperatures well above 900 C. Aerogels offer extremely low-density thermal insulation due to their mesoporous structure, which inhibits both gas convection and solid conduction. Silica aerogel systems are limited to use temperatures of 600-700 C, above which they sinter. Alumina aerogels maintain a porous structure to higher temperatures than silica, before transforming to -alumina and densifying. We have synthesized aluminosilicate aerogels capable of maintaining higher surface areas at temperatures above 1100 C than an all-alumina aerogel using -Boehmite as the aluminum source and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the silicon source. The pore structure of these aerogels varies with thermal exposure temperature and time, as the aluminosilicate undergoes a variety of phase changes to form transition aluminas. Transformation to -alumina is inhibited by incorporation of silica into the alumina lattice. The aerogels are fragile, but can be reinforced using a large variety of ceramic papers, felts or fabrics. The objective of the current study is to characterize the influence of choice of reinforcement and architecture on gas permeability of the aerogel composites in both the as fabricated condition and following thermal exposure, as well as understand the effects of incorporating hydrophobic treatments in the composites.

  10. Novel retrofit technologies incorporating silica aerogel for lower energy buildings

    OpenAIRE

    Dowson, Mark

    2012-01-01

    This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Engineering and was awarded by Brunel University. The aim of this Engineering Doctorate is to design, build and test novel environmental retrofit technologies to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. Three contributions to knowledge are documented. The first contribution is the technical verification of a novel proof-of-principle prototype incorporating translucent silica aerogel granules to improve the thermal performance of...

  11. Mechanical Properties and Brittle Behavior of Silica Aerogels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thierry Woignier

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Sets of silica gels: aerogels, xerogels and sintered aerogels, have been studied in the objective to understand the mechanical behavior of these highly porous solids. The mechanical behaviour of gels is described in terms of elastic and brittle materials, like glasses or ceramics. The magnitude of the elastic and rupture modulus is several orders of magnitude lower compared to dense glass. The mechanical behaviours (elastic and brittle are related to the same kinds of gel characteristics: pore volume, silanol content and pore size. Elastic modulus depends strongly on the volume fraction of pores and on the condensation reaction between silanols. Concerning the brittleness features: rupture modulus and toughness, it is shown that pores size plays an important role. Pores can be considered as flaws in the terms of fracture mechanics and the flaw size is related to the pore size. Weibull’s theory is used to show the statistical nature of flaw. Moreover, stress corrosion behaviour is studied as a function of environmental conditions (water and alcoholic atmosphere and temperature.

  12. Selective epoxidation of allylic alcohols with a titania-silica aerogel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dusi, M.; Mallat, T.; Baiker, A. [Lab. of Technical Chemistry, Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology, ETH-Zentrum, Zuerich (Switzerland)

    1998-12-31

    An amorphous mesoporous titania-silica aerogel (20 wt%TiO{sub 2} - 80 wt% SiO{sub 2}) and tert.-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) have been used for the epoxidation of various allylic alcohols. Allylic alcohols possessing an internal double bond were more reactive than those with a terminal C=C bond. Epoxide selectivities could be improved by addition of (basic) zeolite 4 A and NaHCO{sub 3} to the reaction mixture. (orig.)

  13. Photocatalytic performance of highly amorphous titania–silica aerogels with mesopores: The adverse effect of the in situ adsorption of some organic substrates during photodegradation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lázár, István [Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1 H-4032 (Hungary); Kalmár, József, E-mail: kalmar.jozsef@science.unideb.hu [MTA-DE Homogeneous Catalysis and Reaction Mechanisms Research Group, Egyetem tér 1 H-4032 (Hungary); Peter, Anca [Department of Chemistry and Biology, Technical University of Cluj Napoca, North University Center of Baia Mare, Baia Mare, Victoriei 76, 430122 (Romania); Szilágyi, Anett; Győri, Enikő; Ditrói, Tamás; Fábián, István [Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1 H-4032 (Hungary)

    2015-11-30

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Details on the preparation of titania–silica aerogels with no crystalline anatase phase. • Investigation of the structure and the photocatalytic activity of highly amorphous titania–silica aerogels with mesopores. • The fast adsorption of methylene blue and salicylic acid reduces the rates of their photocatalytic degradations. • An elaborate kinetic model which incorporates both adsorption and photocatalysis. - Abstract: Titania–silica composite aerogels with 16–29% Ti-content by the mass were synthesized by the sol–gel method from different Ti-precursors, and calcined at 500 °C. These aerogels are highly amorphous as no crystalline TiO{sub 2} phase can be detected in them by X-ray diffraction methods, and show the dominating presence of either mesopores or macropores. The incorporation of Ti into the silica structure is shown by the appearance of characteristic IR transitions of Si−O−Ti vibrations. The characteristic band-gap energies of the different aerogels are estimated to be between 3.6 and 3.9 eV from UV reflection spectra. Band-gap energy decreases with decreasing pore-size. When suspended in solution, even these highly amorphous aerogels accelerate the photodegradation of salicylic acid and methylene blue compared to simple photolysis. Kinetic experiments were conducted under illumination, and also in the dark to study the adsorption of the substrates onto the suspended aerogels. We assume that the fast in situ adsorption of the organic substrates mask the suspended aerogel particles from UV photons, which reduces the rate of photocatalysis. We managed to mathematically separate the parallel processes of photocatalysis and adsorption, and develop a simple kinetic model to describe the reaction system.

  14. Facile preparation of organic-silica hybrid monolith for capillary hydrophilic liquid chromatography based on "thiol-ene" click chemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ming-Luan; Zhang, Jun; Zhang, Zheng; Yuan, Bi-Feng; Yu, Qiong-Wei; Feng, Yu-Qi

    2013-04-05

    In this work, a one-step approach to facile preparation of organic-inorganic hybrid monoliths was successfully developed. After vinyl-end organic monomers and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) were mixed with hydrolyzed tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS), the homogeneous mixture was introduced into a fused-silica capillary for simultaneous polycondensation and "thiol-ene" click reaction to form the organic-silica hybrid monoliths. By employing this strategy, two types of organic-silica hybrid monoliths with positively charged quaternary ammonium and amide groups were prepared, respectively. The functional groups were successfully introduced onto the monoliths during the sol-gel process with "thiol-ene" click reaction, which was demonstrated by ζ-potential assessment, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The porous structure of the prepared monolithic columns was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement, and mercury intrusion porosimetry. These results indicate the prepared organic-silica hybrid monoliths possess homogeneous column bed, large specific surface area, good mechanical stability, and excellent permeability. The prepared monolithic columns were then applied for anion-exchange/hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. Different types of analytes, including benzoic acids, inorganic ions, nucleosides, and nucleotides, were well separated with high column efficiency around 80,000-130,000 plates/m. Taken together, we present a facile and universal strategy to prepare organic-silica hybrid monoliths with a variety of organic monomers using one-step approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. On the correlation between the porous structure and the electrochemical response of powdered and monolithic carbon aerogels as electrodes for capacitive deionization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Macías, C., E-mail: carlosmacias@nanoquimia.com [Nanoquimia S.L., PCT Rabanales 21, Ed. Aldebarán M.4.3., 14014 Córdoba (Spain); Lavela, P. [Laboratorio de Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Córdoba, Marie Curie, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba (Spain); Rasines, G. [Nanoquimia S.L., PCT Rabanales 21, Ed. Aldebarán M.4.3., 14014 Córdoba (Spain); Zafra, M.C.; Tirado, J.L. [Laboratorio de Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Córdoba, Marie Curie, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba (Spain); Ania, C.O. [ADPOR Group, Instituto Nacional del Carbón (INCAR), CSIC, Apdo. 73, 33080 Oviedo (Spain)

    2016-10-15

    The combined effect of resorcinol/catalyst (100≤R/C≤800) and resorcinol/water (0.04≤R/W≤0.13) molar ratio on the textural and capacitive properties of carbon aerogels with potential application for capacitive deionization has been evaluated. Activated and pyrolyzed aerogels were synthesized by the sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol-formaldehyde mixtures and dried in supercritical conditions. Data show that high R/C and R/W molar ratios lead to materials with large pores in the mesopore range, whereas the surface area and micropore volumes remain somewhat the same. The activation of the aerogels increased the differences in the specific surface and micropore volumes due to the development of microporosity. This effect was more remarkable for the samples with low R/C whatever the R/W ratio, indicating that the carbon aerogel obtained using high amounts of catalyst are more prone to be activated. Regarding the electrochemical features of the aerogels, low capacitance values were measured in aerogels combining low R/W and high R/C and reciprocally low R/C and high R/W molar ratios, due to their higher resistance. Polarization resistances were found to be slightly higher for the pyrolyzed than for activated aerogels, and followed a decreasing trend with the mesoporosity, indicating the outstanding contribution of the mesoporous network to provide a good kinetic response. The desalting capacity of monolithic aerogels showed a simultaneous dependence with the surface area and the resistivity of the electrodes, pointing out the importance of performing electrochemical measurements in adequate cell configurations (i.e., desalting units) upon the intended application. - Graphical abstract: The textural properties of carbon aerogels are strongly influenced by the synthesis parameters precursor to catalyst (R/C) and water (R/C) ratios. The volumetric capacitance measured in a symmetric cell with monolithic electrodes of carbon aerogel strongly correlates with both

  16. Preparation and luminescence of silica aerogel composites containing an europium (III) phenanthroline nitrate complex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gutzov, Stoyan, E-mail: sgutzov@chem.uni-sofia.bg [University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department of Physical Chemistry, J. Bourchier Blvd. 1, 1164 Sofia (Bulgaria); Danchova, Nina; Kirilova, Rada; Petrov, Vesselin [University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department of Physical Chemistry, J. Bourchier Blvd. 1, 1164 Sofia (Bulgaria); Yordanova, Stanislava [University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department of Organic Chemistry, J. Bourchier Blvd. 1, 1164 Sofia (Bulgaria)

    2017-03-15

    A simple two step procedure for the functionalization of hydrophobic silica aerogel microgranules with europium ions and/or 1,10 - phenanthroline is demonstrated. The activation procedure is based on soaking aerogels in a europium nitrate solution, followed by functionalization with 1,10 – phenanthroline. The functionalized materials display strong red or blue emission at UV-excitation, coming from the formation of [Eu(phen){sub 2}](NO{sub 3}){sub 3} or Si(IV)– 1,10-phenathroline complexes in the porous system of the aerogels. The most probable site symmetry of the europium cation is C{sub 2v} confirmed by luminescence spectra analysis. Room temperature diffuse reflectance spectra and excitation/luminescence spectra are used to describe the optical properties of the hybrid composites. Excitation spectra prove an efficient energy transfer between 1,10 – phenanthroline and the Eu{sup 3+} ion. - Graphical abstract: An effective activation procedure for functionalization of silica aerogel granules with [Eu(phen){sub 2}](NO{sub 3}){sub 3} and/or 1,10 – phenanthroline /phen/ has been demonstrated in order to obtain red or blue emitting materials. Luminescence spectra (excitation at 355 nm) of functionalized aerogel granules: 1 – SiO{sub 2}:0.18phen; 2 – [Eu(phen){sub 2}](NO{sub 3}){sub 3}; 3– SiO{sub 2}:0.007Eu(phen){sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}. The Eu{sup 3+} f-f {sup 5}D{sub 0} →{sup 7}F {sub 0,1,2,3,4} emission transitions are denoted as 0-0, 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4. The most probable site symmetry of Eu3{sup +} ion is C{sub 2v}.

  17. Evaluations of Silica Aerogel-Based Flexible Blanket as Passive Thermal Control Element for Spacecraft Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasan, Mohammed Adnan; Rashmi, S.; Esther, A. Carmel Mary; Bhavanisankar, Prudhivi Yashwantkumar; Sherikar, Baburao N.; Sridhara, N.; Dey, Arjun

    2018-03-01

    The feasibility of utilizing commercially available silica aerogel-based flexible composite blankets as passive thermal control element in applications such as extraterrestrial environments is investigated. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that aerogel blanket was thermally stable over - 150 to 126 °C. The outgassing behavior, e.g., total mass loss, collected volatile condensable materials, water vapor regained and recovered mass loss, was within acceptable range recommended for the space applications. ASTM tension and tear tests confirmed the material's mechanical integrity. The thermo-optical properties remained nearly unaltered in simulated space environmental tests such as relative humidity, thermal cycling and thermo-vacuum tests and confirmed the space worthiness of the aerogel. Aluminized Kapton stitched or anchored to the blanket could be used to control the optical transparency of the aerogel. These outcomes highlight the potential of commercial aerogel composite blankets as passive thermal control element in spacecraft. Structural and chemical characterization of the material was also done using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

  18. The use of carrier RNA to enhance DNA extraction from microfluidic-based silica monoliths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Kirsty J; Thain, Lauren; Docker, Peter T; Dyer, Charlotte E; Greenman, John; Greenway, Gillian M; Haswell, Stephen J

    2009-10-12

    DNA extraction was carried out on silica-based monoliths within a microfluidic device. Solid-phase DNA extraction methodology was applied in which the DNA binds to silica in the presence of a chaotropic salt, such as guanidine hydrochloride, and is eluted in a low ionic strength solution, such as water. The addition of poly-A carrier RNA to the chaotropic salt solution resulted in a marked increase in the effective amount of DNA that could be recovered (25ng) compared to the absence of RNA (5ng) using the silica-based monolith. These findings confirm that techniques utilising nucleic acid carrier molecules can enhance DNA extraction methodologies in microfluidic applications.

  19. Selective removal mercury (Ⅱ) from aqueous solution using silica aerogel modified with 4-amino-5-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3(4H)-thion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tadayon, Fariba; Saber-Tehrani, Mohammad; Motahar, Shiva [Islamic Azad University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2013-03-15

    Silica aerogel surface modifications with chelating agents for adsorption/removal of metal ions have been reported in recent years. This investigation reported the preparation of silica aerogel (SA) adsorbent coupled with metal chelating ligands of 4-amino-5-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3(4H)-thion (AMTT) and its application for selective adsorption of Hg(Ⅱ) ion. The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements, nitrogen physisorption and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Optimal experimental conditions including pH, temperature, adsorbent dosage and contact time have been established. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to analyze the experimental data. The best interpretation for the experimental data given by the Langmuir isotherm equation and the maximum adsorption capacity of the modified silica gel and silica aerogel was 142.85 and 17.24mgg⌃(-1), respectively. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy (ΔG{sup o}), standard enthalpy (ΔH{sup o}) and entropy change (ΔS{sup o}) were investigated. The adsorbed Hg(Ⅱ) on the SA-AMTT adsorbents could be completely eluted by 1.0M KBr solution and recycled at least four times without the loss of adsorption capacity. The results of the present investigation illustrate that modified silica aerogel with AMTT could be used as an adsorbent for the effective removal of Hg(Ⅱ) ions from aqueous solution.

  20. Properties of aerogels in glazings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Jørgen Munthe

    1998-01-01

    This report describes the final tests carried out on an advanced apparatus for measurement of thermal conductivity of materials at atmospheric pressure and different levels of evacuation. The apparatus was designed and constructed in the phase 1 of the project. Difficulties with the control system...... have been solved and measurements have been carried out on common polystyrene foam insulation at atmospheric pressure. The measurements have been compared with results from reference measurements and a difference of only 0.3% was found in measured thermal conductivity. Measurements on monolithic silica...... aerogel were performed at 5 different pressure levels in the range 0.2 - 1000 hPa. The measured equivalent thermal conductivity is in the range 8.9 - 16.4 mW/(m K) which corresponds very well with results obtained by institutes in Germany and France....

  1. Silica aerogel radiator for use in the A-RICH system utilized in the Belle II experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tabata, Makoto, E-mail: makoto@hepburn.s.chiba-u.ac.jp [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara (Japan); Department of Physics, Chiba University, Chiba (Japan); Adachi, Ichiro [Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Hamada, Nao [Department of Physics, Toho University, Funabashi (Japan); Hara, Koji [Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Iijima, Toru [Kobayashi–Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, Nagoya University, Nagoya (Japan); Iwata, Shuichi; Kakuno, Hidekazu [Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); Kawai, Hideyuki [Department of Physics, Chiba University, Chiba (Japan); Korpar, Samo [Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Maribor (Slovenia); Experimental High Energy Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Križan, Peter [Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Experimental High Energy Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Kumita, Tetsuro [Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); Nishida, Shohei [Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Ogawa, Satoru [Department of Physics, Toho University, Funabashi (Japan); Pestotnik, Rok; Šantelj, Luka; Seljak, Andrej [Experimental High Energy Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Sumiyoshi, Takayuki [Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); and others

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents recent progress in the development and mass production of large-area hydrophobic silica aerogels for use as radiators in the aerogel-based ring-imaging Cherenkov (A-RICH) counter, which will be installed in the forward end cap of the Belle II detector. The proximity-focusing A-RICH system is especially designed to identify charged kaons and pions. The refractive index of the installed aerogel Cherenkov radiators is approximately 1.05, and we aim for a separation capability exceeding 4σ at momenta up to 4 GeV/c. Large-area aerogel tiles (over 18×18×2 cm{sup 3}) were first fabricated in test productions by pin drying in addition to conventional methods. We proposed to fill the large end-cap region (area 3.5 m{sup 2}) with 124 water-jet-trimmed fan-shaped dual-layer-focusing aerogel combinations of different refractive indices (1.045 and 1.055). Guided by the test production results, we decided to manufacture aerogels by the conventional method and are currently proceeding with mass production. In an electron beam test undertaken at the DESY, we confirmed that the K/π separation capability of a prototype A-RICH counter exceeded 4σ at 4 GeV/c. - Highlights: • Aerogel tiling as a RICH radiator in the end cap of Belle II detector is proposed. • Conventional method for producing real-size aerogels is established. • No crack-free, real-size aerogels attained in the test production by pin drying. • Beam test confirms the utility of real-size aerogels made by conventional method. • Mass aerogel production for an actual RICH system started by conventional method.

  2. Continuous-Flow Monolithic Silica Microreactors with Arenesulphonic Acid Groups: Structure–Catalytic Activity Relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Ciemięga

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The performance of monolithic silica microreactors activated with sulphonic acid groups and a packed bed reactor with Amberlyst 15 resin were compared in the esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol. The monolithic microreactors were made of single silica rods with complex pore architecture, differing in the size of mesopores, and in particular, flow-through macropores which significantly affected the flow characteristic of the continuous system. The highest ester productivity of 105.2 mol·molH+−1·h−1 was achieved in microreactor M1 with the largest porosity, characterized by a total pore volume of 4 cm3·g−1, mesopores with 20 nm diameter, and large flow-through macropores 30–50 μm in size. The strong impact of the permeability of the monoliths on a reaction kinetics was shown.

  3. Synthesis of Porous and Mechanically Compliant Carbon Aerogels Using Conductive and Structural Additives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Macias

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We report the synthesis of conductive and mechanically compliant monolithic carbon aerogels prepared by sol-gel polycondensation of melamine-resorcinol-formaldehyde (MRF mixtures by incorporating diatomite and carbon black additives. The resulting aerogels composites displayed a well-developed porous structure, confirming that the polymerization of the precursors is not impeded in the presence of either additive. The aerogels retained the porous structure after etching off the siliceous additive, indicating adequate cross-linking of the MRF reactants. However, the presence of diatomite caused a significant fall in the pore volumes, accompanied by coarsening of the average pore size (predominance of large mesopores and macropores. The diatomite also prevented structural shrinkage and deformation of the as-prepared monoliths upon densification by carbonization, even after removal of the siliceous framework. The rigid pristine aerogels became more flexible upon incorporation of the diatomite, favoring implementation of binderless monolithic aerogel electrodes.

  4. Silica aerogel radiator for use in the A-RICH system utilized in the Belle II experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabata, Makoto; Adachi, Ichiro; Hamada, Nao; Hara, Koji; Iijima, Toru; Iwata, Shuichi; Kakuno, Hidekazu; Kawai, Hideyuki; Korpar, Samo; Križan, Peter; Kumita, Tetsuro; Nishida, Shohei; Ogawa, Satoru; Pestotnik, Rok; Šantelj, Luka; Seljak, Andrej; Sumiyoshi, Takayuki; Tahirović, Elvedin; Yoshida, Keisuke; Yusa, Yosuke

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents recent progress in the development and mass production of large-area hydrophobic silica aerogels for use as radiators in the aerogel-based ring-imaging Cherenkov (A-RICH) counter, which will be installed in the forward end cap of the Belle II detector. The proximity-focusing A-RICH system is especially designed to identify charged kaons and pions. The refractive index of the installed aerogel Cherenkov radiators is approximately 1.05, and we aim for a separation capability exceeding 4σ at momenta up to 4 GeV/c. Large-area aerogel tiles (over 18×18×2 cm3) were first fabricated in test productions by pin drying in addition to conventional methods. We proposed to fill the large end-cap region (area 3.5 m2) with 124 water-jet-trimmed fan-shaped dual-layer-focusing aerogel combinations of different refractive indices (1.045 and 1.055). Guided by the test production results, we decided to manufacture aerogels by the conventional method and are currently proceeding with mass production. In an electron beam test undertaken at the DESY, we confirmed that the K/π separation capability of a prototype A-RICH counter exceeded 4σ at 4 GeV/c.

  5. Studies of mobile dust in scrape-off layer plasmas using silica aerogel collectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergsaker, H., E-mail: henricb@kth.se [Division of Space and Plasma Physics, Association EURATOM-VR, School of Electrical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, SE-10044 Stockholm (Sweden); Ratynskaia, S. [Division of Space and Plasma Physics, Association EURATOM-VR, School of Electrical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, SE-10044 Stockholm (Sweden); Litnovsky, A. [Institut fur Energieforschung - Plasmaphysik, Forschungszentrum Julich, Trilateral Euregio Cluster, Association EURATOM-FZ Julich, D-52425 Julich (Germany); Ogata, D. [Division of Space and Plasma Physics, Association EURATOM-VR, School of Electrical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, SE-10044 Stockholm (Sweden); Sahle, W. [Functional Materials Division, KTH-Electrum 229, Isafjordsgatan 22, SE-16440 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2011-08-01

    Dust capture with ultralow density silica aerogel collectors is a new method, which allows time resolved in situ capture of dust particles in the scrape-off layers of fusion devices, without substantially damaging the particles. Particle composition and morphology, particle flux densities and particle velocity distributions can be determined through appropriate analysis of the aerogel surfaces after exposure. The method has been applied in comparative studies of intrinsic dust in the TEXTOR tokamak and in the Extrap T2R reversed field pinch. The analysis methods have been mainly optical microscopy and SEM. The method is shown to be applicable in both devices and the results are tentatively compared between the two plasma devices, which are very different in terms of edge plasma conditions, time scale, geometry and wall materials.

  6. Mechanical performance and thermal stability of glass fiber reinforced silica aerogel composites based on co-precursor method by freeze drying

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Ting; Cheng, Xudong; Pan, Yuelei; Li, Congcong; Gong, Lunlun; Zhang, Heping

    2018-04-01

    In order to maintain the integrity, glass fiber (GF) reinforced silica aerogel composites were synthesized using methltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and water glass co-precursor by freeze drying method. The composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, uniaxial compressive test, three-point bending test, thermal conductivity analysis, contact angle test, TG-DSC analysis. It was found that the molar ratio of MTMS/water glass could significantly affect the properties of composites. The bulk density and thermal conductivity first decreased and then increased with the increasing molar ratio. The composites showed remarkable mechanical strength and flexibility compared with pure silica aerogel. Moreover, when the molar ratio is 1.8, the composites showed high specific surface area (870.9 m2/g), high contact angle (150°), great thermal stability (560 °C) and low thermal conductivity (0.0248 W/m·K). These outstanding properties indicate that GF/aerogels have broad prospects in the field of thermal insulation.

  7. Fabrication and characterization of silica aerogel as synthetic tissues for medical imaging phantoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    In, Eunji; Naguib, Hani

    2015-05-01

    Medical imaging plays an important role in the field of healthcare industry both in clinical settings and in research and development. It is used in prevention, early detection of disease, in choosing the optimal treatment, during surgical interventions and monitoring of the treatment effects. Despite much advancement in the last few decades, rapid change on its technology development and variety of imaging parameters that differ with the manufacturer restrict its further development. Imaging phantom is a calibrating medium that is scanned or imaged in the field of medical imaging to evaluate, analyze and tune the performance of various imaging devices. A phantom used to evaluate an imaging device should respond in a similar manner to how human tissue and organs would act in that specific imaging modality. There has been many research on the phantom materials; however, there has been no attempt to study on the material that mimics the structure of lung or fibrous tissue. So with the need for development of gel with such structure, we tried to mimic this structure with aerogel. Silica aerogels have unique properties that include low density (0.003g/cm) and mesoporosity (pore size 2-50nm), with a high thermal insulation value (0.005W/mK) and high surface area (500-1200m-2/g).] In this study, we cross-linked with di-isocyanate, which is a group in polyurethane to covalently bond the polymer to the surface of silica aerogel to enhance the mechanical properties. By formation of covalent bonds, the structure can be reinforced by widening the interparticle necks while minimally reducing porosity.

  8. Optimization and application of octadecyl-modified monolithic silica for solid-phase extraction of drugs in whole blood samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Namera, Akira; Saito, Takeshi; Ota, Shigenori; Miyazaki, Shota; Oikawa, Hiroshi; Murata, Kazuhiro; Nagao, Masataka

    2017-09-29

    Monolithic silica in MonoSpin for solid-phase extraction of drugs from whole blood samples was developed to facilitate high-throughput analysis. Monolithic silica of various pore sizes and octadecyl contents were synthesized, and their effects on recovery rates were evaluated. The silica monolith M18-200 (20μm through-pore size, 10.4nm mesopore size, and 17.3% carbon content) achieved the best recovery of the target analytes in whole blood samples. The extraction proceeded with centrifugal force at 1000rpm for 2min, and the eluate was directly injected into the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system without any tedious steps such as evaporation of extraction solvents. Under the optimized condition, low detection limits of 0.5-2.0ngmL -1 and calibration ranges up to 1000ngmL -1 were obtained. The recoveries of the target drugs in the whole blood were 76-108% with relative standard deviation of less than 14.3%. These results indicate that the developed method based on monolithic silica is convenient, highly efficient, and applicable for detecting drugs in whole blood samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Silica aerogel threshold Cherenkov counters for the JLab Hall A spectrometers: improvements and proposed modifications

    CERN Document Server

    Lagamba, L; Colilli, S; Crateri, R; De Leo, R; Frullani, S; Garibaldi, F; Giuliani, F; Gricia, M; Iodice, M; Iommi, R; Leone, A; Lucentini, M; Mostarda, A; Nappi, E; Perrino, R; Pierangeli, L; Santavenere, F; Urciuoli, G M

    2001-01-01

    Recently approved experiments at Jefferson Lab Hall A require a clean kaon identification in a large electron, pion, and proton background environment. To this end, improved performance is required of the silica aerogel threshold Cherenkov counters installed in the focal plane of the two Hall A spectrometers. In this paper we propose two strategies to improve the performance of the Cherenkov counters which presently use a hydrophilic aerogel radiator, and convey Cherenkov photons towards the photomultipliers by means of mirrors with a parabolic shape in one direction and flat in the other. The first strategy is aerogel baking. In the second strategy we propose a modification of the counter geometry by replacing the mirrors with a planar diffusing surface and by displacing in a different way the photomultipliers. Tests at CERN with a 5 GeV/c multiparticle beam revealed that both the strategies are able to increase significantly the number of the detected Cherenkov photons and, therefore, the detector performan...

  10. Aerogel nanocomposite materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hunt, A.J.; Ayers, M.; Cao, W. [Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, CA (United States)] [and others

    1995-05-01

    Aerogels are porous, low density, nanostructured solids with many unusual properties including very low thermal conductivity, good transparency, high surface area, catalytic activity, and low sound velocity. This research is directed toward developing new nanocomposite aerogel materials for improved thermal insulation and several other applications. A major focus of the research has been to further increase the thermal resistance of silica aerogel by introducing infrared opacification agents into the aerogel to produce a superinsulating composite material. Opacified superinsulating aerogel permit a number of industrial applications for aerogel-based insulation. The primary benefits from this recently developed superinsulating composite aerogel insulation are: to extend the range of applications to higher temperatures, to provide a more compact insulation for space sensitive-applications, and to lower costs of aerogel by as much as 30%. Superinsulating aerogels can replace existing CFC-containing polyurethane in low temperature applications to reduce heat losses in piping, improve the thermal efficiency of refrigeration systems, and reduce energy losses in a variety of industrial applications. Enhanced aerogel insulation can also replace steam and process pipe insulation in higher temperature applications to substantially reduce energy losses and provide much more compact insulation.

  11. Room Temperature Imprint Using Crack-Free Monolithic SiO2-PVA Nanocomposite for Fabricating Microhole Array on Silica Glass

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigeru Fujino

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to fabricate microhole arrays onto a silica glass via a room temperature imprint and subsequent sintering by using a monolithic SiO2-poly(vinyl alcohol (PVA nanocomposite as the silica glass precursor. The SiO2-PVA suspension was prepared from fumed silica particles and PVA, followed by drying to obtain tailored SiO2-PVA nanocomposites. The dependence of particle size of the fumed silica particles on pore size of the nanocomposite was examined. Nanocomposites prepared from 7 nm silica particles possessed suitable mesopores, whereas the corresponding nanocomposites prepared from 30 nm silica particles hardly possessed mesopores. The pore size of the nanocomposites increased as a function of decreasing pH of the SiO2-PVA suspension. As a consequence, the crack-free monolithic SiO2-PVA nanocomposite was obtained using 7 nm silica particles via the suspension at pH 3. Micropatterns were imprinted on the monolithic SiO2-PVA nanocomposite at room temperature. The imprinted nanocomposite was sintered to a transparent silica glass at 1200°C in air. The fabricated sintered glass possessed the microhole array on their surface with aspect ratios identical to the mold.

  12. Noble Metal Immersion Spectroscopy of Silica Alcogels and Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, David D.; Sibille, Laurent; Cronise, Raymond J.; Noever, David A.

    1998-01-01

    We have fabricated aerogels containing gold and silver nanoparticles for gas catalysis applications. By applying the concept of an average or effective dielectric constant to the heterogeneous interlayer surrounding each particle, we extend the technique of immersion spectroscopy to porous or heterogeneous media. Specifically, we apply the predominant effective medium theories for the determination of the average fractional composition of each component in this inhomogeneous layer. Hence, the surface area of metal available for catalytic gas reaction is determined. The technique is satisfactory for statistically random metal particle distributions but needs further modification for aggregated or surfactant modified systems. Additionally, the kinetics suggest that collective particle interactions in coagulated clusters are perturbed during silica gelation resulting in a change in the aggregate geometry.

  13. Dynamics of capillary condensation in aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nomura, R; Miyashita, W; Yoneyama, K; Okuda, Y

    2006-03-01

    Dynamics of capillary condensation of liquid 4He in various density silica aerogels was investigated systematically. Interfaces were clearly visible when bulk liquid was rapidly sucked into the aerogel. Time evolution of the interface positions was consistent with the Washburn model and their effective pore radii were obtained. Condensation was a single step in a dense aerogel and two steps in a low density aerogel. Crossover between the two types of condensation was observed in an intermediate density aerogel. Variety of the dynamics may be the manifestation of the fractal nature of aerogels which had a wide range of distribution of pore radii.

  14. Rice Husk Ash as a Renewable Source for the Production of Value Added Silica Gel and its Application: An Overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ram Prasad

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, silica gels have developed a lot of interest due to their extraordinary properties and their existing and potential applications in science and technology. Silica gel has a wide range of applications such as a desiccant, as a preservation tool to control humidity, as an adsorbent, as a catalyst and as a cata-lyst support. Silica gel is a rigid three-dimensional network of colloidal silica, and is classified as: aqua-gel, alco-gel, xero-gel and aero-gel. Out of all known solid porous materials, aero-gels are particularly known for their high specific surface area, high porosity, low bulk density, high thermal insulation value, ultra low dielectric constant and low index of refraction. Because of these extraordinary properties silica aero-gel has many commercial applications such as thermal window insulation, acoustic barriers, super-capacitors and catalytic supports. However, monolithic silica aero-gel has been used extensively in high energy physics in Cherenkov radiation detectors and in shock wave studies at high pressures, inertial confinement fusion (ICF radio-luminescent and micrometeorites. Silica gel can be prepared by using various sol gel precursors but the rice husk (RH is considered as the cheapest source for silica gel production. Rice husk is a waste product abundantly available in rice producing countries during milling of rice. This review article aims at summarizing the developments carried out so far in synthesis, properties, characterization and method of determination of silica, silica gel, silica aero-gel and silica xero-gel. The effect of synthesis parameters such as pH, temperature of burning the rice husk, acid leaching prior to formation of rice husk ash (RHA on the properties of final product are also described. The attention is also paid on the application of RH, RHA, sil-ica, silica aero-gel and silica xero-gel. Development of economically viable processes for getting rice husk silica with specific

  15. A saxs study of silica aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Craievich, A.F.

    1986-01-01

    Aerogels produced by hypercritical drying of gels from hydrolysis of TMOS (Tetramethoxysilane) in various pH conditions and subjected to a densification process were studied by SAXS using LURE synchrotron facility. The evaluation of scattering data combined with BET measurements leads to a model of aerogels consisting of a light density matrix in which meso-and macro-pores are embedded. (Author) [pt

  16. B1 Aerogels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duer, Karsten; Svendsen, Sv Aa Højgaard

    1996-01-01

    , engineering and architectural basis which will support the appropriate use of aerogels in windows, solar collectors and passive solar applications, with the aim of saving or producing thermal energy for use in buildings".This objective is in very good agreement with the general scope of task 18 but where Task...... of aerogel as a material for window applications3. Construction of an aerogel DGU and measurement of key performance parameters. The goal for the aerogel DGU was to reach a Total Solar Energy Transmittance above 0.75 and a U-value below 0.5 W/m²K. These are values that can not be simultaneously reached......The report summarizes the work that has been carried out within the project "B1 AEROGELS" as a part of the IEA SH&CP Task 18 "Advanced Glazing and Associated Materials For Solar And Building Applications".By providing at the same time thermal insulation and transparency the silica aerogel is a very...

  17. Synthesis and electronic structure of low-density monoliths of nanoporous nanocrystalline anatase TiO2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kucheyev, S O; Baumann, T F; Wang, Y M; van Buuren, T; Satcher, J H

    2004-08-13

    Monolithic nanocrystalline anatase titania aerogels are synthesized by the epoxide sol-gel method followed by thermal annealing at 550 C. These aerogels are formed by {approx}10-20 nm size anatase nanoparticles which are randomly oriented and interconnected into an open-cell solid network. Aerogel monoliths have an apparent density of {approx}6% and a surface area of {approx} 100 m{sup 2} g{sup -1}. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and soft x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy reveal good crystallinity of the anatase nanoparticles forming the aerogel skeleton.

  18. Cheap C18-modified silica monolith particles as HPLC stationary phase of good separation efficiency

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ali, Ashraf; Ali, Faiz; Cheong, Woo Jo [Dept. of of Chemistry, Inha University, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-06-15

    The columns packed with particles have a high efficiency but they are accompanied with a high column back pressure due to lower permeability, while the monolithic columns have a high permeability but they result in inferior separation efficiency for the analysis of small molecules in HPLC. In our laboratory,we have been using the pseudo-monolithic silica particles with C-18 ligand or polystyrene film. The column to column reproducibility was evaluated based on three columns made of three different batches of silica monolith particles, and better than 4.5% in N, and 1.6% in retention time were observed. The day to day reproducibility of a single column for three consecutive days was found better than 1.5% both in N and retention time. The van Deemter plots were derived for awide range of flow rates. The trends of van Deemter plots were similar to those of common patterns and the optimal flow rate was found to be 25 μL/min.

  19. Random laser emission from a Rhodamine B-doped GPTS/TEOS-derived organic/silica monolithic xerogel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abegão, Luis M. G.; Manoel, D. S.; Otuka, A. J. G.; Ferreira, P. H. D.; Vollet, D. R.; Donatti, D. A.; De Boni, L.; Mendonça, C. R.; De Vicente, F. S.; Rodrigues, J. J., Jr.; Alencar, M. A. R. C.

    2017-06-01

    A Rhodamine B-doped 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS)/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)-derived organic/silica monolithic xerogel with excellent optical properties was prepared and its potential as a random laser host investigated. This hybrid material has a non-porous organic/inorganic morphology with silica-rich nanoparticles of less than 10 nm in diameter homogeneously dispersed within the matrix. Random laser emission with incoherent feedback, centered at 618 nm, was observed from Rhodamine B incorporated into the monolithic xerogel when excited by a 532 nm pulsed laser. This hybrid system is shown to be very promising for the development of a new class of random laser-based integrated devices, with applications ranging from optical bio-imaging to sensing.

  20. Evaluation of supercritical CO2 dried cellulose aerogels as nano-biomaterials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sinah; Kang, Kyu-Young; Jeong, Myung-Joon; Potthast, Antje; Liebner, Falk

    2017-10-01

    Cellulose is the renewable, biodegradable and abundant resource and is suggested as an alternative material to silica due to the high price and environmental load of silica. The first step for cellulose aerogel production is to dissolve cellulose, and hydrated calcium thiocyanate molten salt is one of the most effective solvents for preparing porous material. Cellulose aerogels were prepared from dissolved cellulose samples of different degree of polymerization (DP) and drying methods, and tested with shrinkage, density and mechanical strength. Supercritical CO2 dried cellulose aerogels shrank less compared to freeze-dried cellulose aerogels, whereas the densities were increased according to the DP increases in both cellulose aerogels. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that the higher DP cellulose aerogels were more uniform with micro-porous structure. Regarding the mechanical strength of cellulose aerogels, supercritical CO2 dried cellulose aerogels with higher molecular weight were much more solid.

  1. Preparation of Silica Monoliths with Macropores and Mesopores and of High Specific Surface Area with Low Shrinkage using a Template Induced Method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo, Jianyu [Shanghai Normal Univ., Shanghai (China); Lu, Yan [Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai (China); Whiting, Roger [AUT Univ., Auckland (New Zealand)

    2013-02-15

    In this study we report a new method for the synthesis of a silica monolithic column bed with bimodal pores (throughpores and mesopores). The template induced synthesis method was used to direct bimodal pores simultaneously instead of the usual post base-treating method. Block polymer Pluronic F127 was chosen as a dual-function template to form hierarchically porous silica monolith with both macropores and mesopores. This is a simplification of the method of monolithic column preparation. Poly(ethylene glycol) was used as a partial substitute for F127 can effectively prevent shrinkage during the monolith aging process without losing much surface area (944 m{sup 2}/g to 807 m{sup 2}/g). More importantly, the resultant material showed a much narrower mesopore size (centered at 6 nm) distribution than that made using only F127 as the template reagent, which helps the mass transfer process. The solvent washing method was used to remove the remaining organic template, and it was proved to be effective enough. The new synthesis method makes the fabrication of the silica monolithic column (especially capillary column) much easier. All the structure parameters indicate that monolith PFA05 prepared by the above method is a good material for separation, with the merits of much higher surface area than usual commercial HPLC silica particles, suitable mesopore volume, narrow mesopore size distribution, low shrinkage and it is easily prepared.

  2. SINTESIS SILIKA AEROGEL DENGAN BAHAN DASAR ABU BAGASSE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nazriati Nazriati

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available SYNTHESIS OF SILICA AEROGEL FROM BAGASSE ASH. Synthesis of silica aerogel from bagasse ash was done by alkaline extraction followed by sol-gel. Bagasse ash was extracted with NaOH at its boiling temperature for one hour with continue stirring, to produce sodium silicate. Subsequently, sodium silicate was pass through ionic exchanger resin, to produces silicic acid (SA. Silicic acid solution was then added with TMCS and HMDS as surface modifier agent. In order to form gel pH must be adjusted to final pH of 8-9 by addition of NH4OH solution. The resulting gel then was aged and dried at ambient pressure and at a certain time and temperature. Characterization of products was done by measuring its pore volume, surface area, and hydrophobisity (contact angle. TMCS serves as water expeller from the pores and subsequently surface was modified by HMDS and TMCS. HMDS content will linearly increase surface area, pore volume, and the contact angle of the resulting silica aerogel. Characteristics of silica aerogel was generated by varying the composition of the SA:TMCS:HMDS resulting has a surface area of 50-488 m2/g, pore volume from 0.2 to 0.9 m3 /g, the contact angle of 48-119 and pore diameter ranging from 5.7-22.56 nm. Based on the resulting pore diameter, the synthesized of silica aerogel categorized as mesoporous.      Abstrak   Sintesis silika aerogel dari bahan dasar abu bagasse dilakukan dengan ekstraksi basa dan diikuti dengan sol-gel. Abu bagasse diekstrak dengan NaOH pada suhu didihnya sambil diaduk selama satu jam, menghasilkan sodium silikat. Selanjutnya, sodium silikat dilewatkan resin penukar ion, menghasilkan asam silicic (SA. Larutan asam silicic kemudian ditambahkan trimethy­l­chlorosilane (TMCS dan hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS sebagai agen pemodifikasi permukaan. Untuk terjadinya gel pH diatur hingga mencapai 8-9 dengan penambahan larutan NH4OH. Gel yang dihasilkan kemudian di-aging dan dikeringkan pada tekanan ambien pada suhu dan

  3. Dimensional and Structural Control of Silica Aerogel Membranes for Miniaturized Motionless Gas Pumps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Shanyu; Jiang, Bo; Maeder, Thomas; Muralt, Paul; Kim, Nayoung; Matam, Santhosh Kumar; Jeong, Eunho; Han, Yen-Lin; Koebel, Matthias M

    2015-08-26

    With growing public interest in portable electronics such as micro fuel cells, micro gas total analysis systems, and portable medical devices, the need for miniaturized air pumps with minimal electrical power consumption is on the rise. Thus, the development and downsizing of next-generation thermal transpiration gas pumps has been investigated intensively during the last decades. Such a system relies on a mesoporous membrane that generates a thermomolecular pressure gradient under the action of an applied temperature bias. However, the development of highly miniaturized active membrane materials with tailored porosity and optimized pumping performance remains a major challenge. Here we report a systematic study on the manufacturing of aerogel membranes using an optimized, minimal-shrinkage sol-gel process, leading to low thermal conductivity and high air conductance. This combination of properties results in superior performance for miniaturized thermomolecular air pump applications. The engineering of such aerogel membranes, which implies pore structure control and chemical surface modification, requires both chemical processing know-how and a detailed understanding of the influence of the material properties on the spatial flow rate density. Optimal pumping performance was found for devices with integrated membranes with a density of 0.062 g cm(-3) and an average pore size of 142.0 nm. Benchmarking of such low-density hydrophobic active aerogel membranes gave an air flow rate density of 3.85 sccm·cm(-2) at an operating temperature of 400 °C. Such a silica aerogel membrane based system has shown more than 50% higher pumping performance when compared to conventional transpiration pump membrane materials as well as the ability to withstand higher operating temperatures (up to 440 °C). This study highlights new perspectives for the development of miniaturized thermal transpiration air pumps while offering insights into the fundamentals of molecular pumping in

  4. Investigation of polyurea-crosslinked silica aerogels as a neuronal scaffold: a pilot study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Firouzeh Sabri

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Polymer crosslinked aerogels are an attractive class of materials for future implant applications particularly as a biomaterial for the support of nerve growth. The low density and nano-porous structure of this material combined with large surface area, high mechanical strength, and tunable surface properties, make aerogels materials with a high potential in aiding repair of injuries of the peripheral nervous system. however, the interaction of neurons with aerogels remains to be investigated. METHODOLOGY: In this work the attachment and growth of neurons on clear polyurea crosslinked silica aerogels (PCSA coated with: poly-L-lysine, basement membrane extract (BME, and laminin1 was investigated by means of optical and scanning electron microscopy. After comparing the attachment and growth capability of neurons on these different coatings, laminin1 and BME were chosen for nerve cell attachment and growth on PCSA surfaces. The behavior of neurons on treated petri dish surfaces was used as the control and behavior of neurons on treated PCSA discs was compared against it. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study demonstrates that: 1 untreated PCSA surfaces do not support attachment and growth of nerve cells, 2 a thin application of laminin1 layer onto the PCSA discs adhered well to the PCSA surface while also supporting growth and differentiation of neurons as evidenced by the number of processes extended and b3-tubulin expression, 3 three dimensional porous structure of PCSA remains intact after fixing protocols necessary for preservation of biological samples and 4 laminin1 coating proved to be the most effective method for attaching neurons to the desired regions on PCSA discs. This work provides the basis for potential use of PCSA as a biomaterial scaffold for neural regeneration.

  5. Aerogels Handbook

    CERN Document Server

    Aegerter, Michel A; Koebel, Matthias M

    2011-01-01

    Aerogels are the lightest solids known. Up to 1000 times lighter than glass and with a density as low as only four times that of air, they show very high thermal, electrical and acoustic insulation values and hold many entries in Guinness World Records. Originally based on silica, R&D efforts have extended this class of materials to non-silicate inorganic oxides, natural and synthetic organic polymers, carbon, metal and ceramic materials, etc. Composite systems involving polymer-crosslinked aerogels and interpenetrating hybrid networks have been developed and exhibit remarkable mechanical strength and flexibility. Even more exotic aerogels based on clays, chalcogenides, phosphides, quantum dots, and biopolymers such as chitosan are opening new applications for the construction, transportation, energy, defense and healthcare industries. Applications in electronics, chemistry, mechanics, engineering, energy production and storage, sensors, medicine, nanotechnology, military and aerospace, oil and gas recove...

  6. Synthesis and Characterization of Poly (styrene-co-butyl acrylate)/Silica Aerogel Nanocomposites by in situ AGET ATRP: Investigating Thermal Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khezri, Khezrollah; Fazli, Yousef

    2017-10-01

    Hydrophilic silica aerogel nanoparticles surface was modified with hexamethyldisilazane. Then, the resultant modified nanoparticles were used in random copolymerization of styrene and butyl acrylate via activators generated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization. Conversion and molecular weight determinations were performed using gas and size exclusion chromatography respectively. Addition of modified nanoparticles by 3 wt% results in a decrease of conversion from 68 to 46 %. Molecular weight of copolymer chains decreases from 12,500 to 7,500 g.mol-1 by addition of 3 wt% modified nanoparticles; however, PDI values increase from 1.1 to 1.4. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy results indicate that the molar ratio of each monomer in the copolymer chains is approximately similar to the initial selected mole ratio of them. Increasing thermal stability of the nanocomposites is demonstrated by thermal gravimetric analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry also shows a decrease in glass transition temperature by increasing modified silica aerogel nanoparticles.

  7. Very large-scale structures in sintered silica aerogels as evidenced by atomic force microscopy and ultra-small angle X-ray scattering experiments

    CERN Document Server

    Marliere, C; Etienne, P; Woignier, T; Dieudonné, P; Phalippou, J

    2001-01-01

    During the last few years the bulk structure of silica aerogels has been extensively studied mainly by scattering techniques (neutrons, X-rays, light). It has been shown that small silica particles aggregate to constitute a fractal network. Its spatial extension and fractal dimension are strongly dependent on the synthesis conditions (e.g., pH of gelifying solutions). These typical lengths range from 1 to 10 nm. Ultra-small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments have been carried out on aerogels at different steps of densification. The results presented in this paper reveal the existence of a spatial arrangement of the solid part at a very large length scale. The evolution of this very large-scale structure during the densification process has been studied and reveals a contraction of this macro-structure made of aggregates of clusters. (16 refs).

  8. Silica Aerogels Doped with Ru(II) Tris 1,l0-Phenanthro1ine)-Electron Acceptor Dyads: Improving the Dynamic Range, Sensitivity and Response Time of Sol-Gel Based Oxygen Sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kevebtusm Bucgikas; Rawashdeh, Abdel M.; Elder, Ian A.; Yang, Jinhua; Dass, Amala; Sotiriou-Leventis, Chariklia

    2005-01-01

    Complexes 1 and 2 were characterized in fluid and frozen solution and as dopants of silica aerogels. The intramolecular quenching efficiency of pendant 4-benzoyl-N-methylpyridinium group (4BzPy) is solvent dependent: emission is quenched completely in acetonitrile but not in alcohols. On the other hand, N-benzyl-N'-methylviologen (BzMeV) quenches the emission in all solvents completely. The differences are traced electrochemically to a stronger solvation effect by the alcohol in the case of 1. In fiozen matrices or absorbed on the surfaces of silica aerogel, both 1 and 2 are photoluminescent. The lack of quenching has been traced to the environmental rigidity. When doped aerogels are cooled to 77K, the emission shifts to the blue and its intensity increases in analogy to what is observed with Ru(II) complexes in media undergoing fluid-to-rigid transition. The photoluminescence of 1 and 2 from the aerogel is quenched by oxygen diffusing through the pores. In the presence of oxygen, aerogels doped with 1 can modulate their emission over a wider dynamic range than aerogels doped with 2, and both are more sensitive than aerogels doped with Ru(II) tris(1,l0- phenanthroline). In contrast to frozen solutions, the luminescent moieties in the bulk of aerogels kept at 77K are still accessible, leading to more sensitive platforms for oxygen sensors than other ambient temperature configurations.

  9. Durable polymer-aerogel based superhydrophobic coatings, a composite material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kissel, David J; Brinker, Charles Jeffrey

    2014-03-04

    Provided are polymer-aerogel composite coatings, devices and articles including polymer-aerogel composite coatings, and methods for preparing the polymer-aerogel composite. The exemplary article can include a surface, wherein the surface includes at least one region and a polymer-aerogel composite coating disposed over the at least one region, wherein the polymer-aerogel composite coating has a water contact angle of at least about 140.degree. and a contact angle hysteresis of less than about 1.degree.. The polymer-aerogel composite coating can include a polymer and an ultra high water content catalyzed polysilicate aerogel, the polysilicate aerogel including a three dimensional network of silica particles having surface functional groups derivatized with a silylating agent and a plurality of pores.

  10. Durable polymer-aerogel based superhydrophobic coatings: a composite material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kissel, David J.; Brinker, Charles Jeffrey

    2016-02-02

    Provided are polymer-aerogel composite coatings, devices and articles including polymer-aerogel composite coatings, and methods for preparing the polymer-aerogel composite. The exemplary article can include a surface, wherein the surface includes at least one region and a polymer-aerogel composite coating disposed over the at least one region, wherein the polymer-aerogel composite coating has a water contact angle of at least about 140.degree. and a contact angle hysteresis of less than about 1.degree.. The polymer-aerogel composite coating can include a polymer and an ultra high water content catalyzed polysilicate aerogel, the polysilicate aerogel including a three dimensional network of silica particles having surface functional groups derivatized with a silylating agent and a plurality of pores.

  11. Compressive properties of silica aerogel at 295, 76, and 20K

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arvidson, J.M.; Scull, L.L.

    1986-01-01

    Specimens of silica aerogel were tested in compression at 295, 76, and 20 K in a helium gas environment. The properties reported include Young's modulus, the proportional limit, and yield strength. Compressive stress-versus-strain curves at these temperatures are also given. A test apparatus was developed specifically to determine the compressive properties of low strength materials. To measure specimen strain a concentric, overlapping-cylinder, capacitance extensometer was developed. This frictionless device has the capability to conduct variable temperature tests at any temperature from 1.8 to 295 K. Results from the compression tests indicate that at low temperatures the material is not only stronger, but tougher. During 295-K compression tests, the samples fractured and, in some cases, crumbled. After 76- or 20-K compression tests, the specimens remained intact

  12. High-performance liquid chromatography separation of unsaturated organic compounds by a monolithic silica column embedded with silver nanoparticles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yang; Morisato, Kei; Hasegawa, George; Moitra, Nirmalya; Kiyomura, Tsutomu; Kurata, Hiroki; Kanamori, Kazuyoshi; Nakanishi, Kazuki

    2015-08-01

    The optimization of a porous structure to ensure good separation performances is always a significant issue in high-performance liquid chromatography column design. Recently we reported the homogeneous embedment of Ag nanoparticles in periodic mesoporous silica monolith and the application of such Ag nanoparticles embedded silica monolith for the high-performance liquid chromatography separation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. However, the separation performance remains to be improved and the retention mechanism as compared with the Ag ion high-performance liquid chromatography technique still needs to be clarified. In this research, Ag nanoparticles were introduced into a macro/mesoporous silica monolith with optimized pore parameters for high-performance liquid chromatography separations. Baseline separation of benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, and pyrene was achieved with the theoretical plate number for analyte naphthalene as 36,000 m(-1). Its separation function was further extended to cis/trans isomers of aromatic compounds where cis/trans stilbenes were chosen as a benchmark. Good separation of cis/trans-stilbene with separation factor as 7 and theoretical plate number as 76,000 m(-1) for cis-stilbene was obtained. The trans isomer, however, is retained more strongly, which contradicts the long- established retention rule of Ag ion chromatography. Such behavior of Ag nanoparticles embedded in a silica column can be attributed to the differences in the molecular geometric configuration of cis/trans stilbenes. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  13. Aerogel as a Sample Collector and Sample Mount for Transmission XRD Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bish, D. L.; Vaniman, D. T.; Chipera, S. J.; Yen, A. S.; Jones, S. M.

    2001-01-01

    Silica aerogel can be used for dust collection and in situ X-ray analysis. Aerogels can be less absorbing than Be, and it is feasible to obtain X-ray transmission factors >50% using typical aerogels together with a 100-micrometer Be backing foil. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

  14. Continuous laser irradiation under ambient conditions: A simple way for the space-selective growth of gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Hamzaoui, Hicham; Bernard, Remy; Chahadih, Abdallah; Chassagneux, Fernand; Bois, Laurence; Capoen, Bruno; Bouazaoui, Mohamed

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Visible continuous laser direct-write gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith. → The presence of the additive (Na 2 CO 3 ) is not necessary to the growth of gold nanoparticles. → A simple heat treatment leads to precipitation of gold nanoparticles inside the silica matrices with, or without, the additive. → The local precipitation of gold nanoparticles by continuous photo-irradiation occurs following a photo-thermal activated mechanism. -- Abstract: Thanks to the potential and various applications of metal-dielectric nanocomposites, their syntheses constitute an interesting subject in material research. In this work, we demonstrate the achievement of gold nanocrystals growth through a visible and continuous laser irradiation. The in situ and direct space-selective generation of metallic nanoparticles is localized under the surface within transparent silica monoliths. For that purpose, the porous silica monoliths are prepared using a sol-gel route and post-doped with gold precursors before the irradiation. The presence of Au nanoparticles inside the irradiated areas was evidenced using absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The comparison between the results obtained after a laser irradiation and by a simple heat-treatment reveals that the local precipitation of gold nanoparticles by continuous photo-irradiation occurs following a photo-thermal activated mechanism.

  15. Nanoporous aerogel as a bacteria repelling hygienic material for healthcare environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Jun Kyun; Kohli, Nandita; Zhang, Yuanzhong; Min, Younjin; Jayaraman, Arul; Cisneros-Zevallos, Luis; Akbulut, Mustafa

    2016-02-26

    Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) caused by pathogenic bacteria are a worldwide problem and responsible for numerous cases of morbidity and mortality. Exogenous cross-contamination is one of the main mechanisms contributing to such infections. This work investigates the potential of hydrophobically modified nanoporous silica aerogel as an antiadhesive hygienic material that can inhibit exogenous bacterial contamination. Nanoporous silica aerogels were synthesized via sol-gel polymerization of tetraethyl orthosilicate and hydrophobized using trimethylsilyl chloride. Bacterial adhesion characteristics were evaluated via dip-inoculation in suspensions of Gram-negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. The attachment of E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus to hydrophobic nanoporous silica aerogel (HNSA) was found to be significantly lower than that to hydrophilic and hydrophobic nonporous silica materials: 99.91% (E. coli O157:H7) and 99.93% (S. aureus) reduction in comparison to hydrophilic nonporous silica, and 82.95% (E. coli O157:H7) and 84.90% (S. aureus) reduction in comparison to hydrophobic nonporous silica. These results suggest that the use of HNSA as surfaces that come into contact with bacterial pathogens in the healthcare environment can improve bacterial hygiene, and therefore may reduce the rate of HAIs.

  16. Nanoporous aerogel as a bacteria repelling hygienic material for healthcare environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oh, Jun Kyun; Akbulut, Mustafa; Kohli, Nandita; Jayaraman, Arul; Zhang, Yuanzhong; Min, Younjin; Cisneros-Zevallos, Luis

    2016-01-01

    Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) caused by pathogenic bacteria are a worldwide problem and responsible for numerous cases of morbidity and mortality. Exogenous cross-contamination is one of the main mechanisms contributing to such infections. This work investigates the potential of hydrophobically modified nanoporous silica aerogel as an antiadhesive hygienic material that can inhibit exogenous bacterial contamination. Nanoporous silica aerogels were synthesized via sol–gel polymerization of tetraethyl orthosilicate and hydrophobized using trimethylsilyl chloride. Bacterial adhesion characteristics were evaluated via dip-inoculation in suspensions of Gram-negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. The attachment of E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus to hydrophobic nanoporous silica aerogel (HNSA) was found to be significantly lower than that to hydrophilic and hydrophobic nonporous silica materials: 99.91% (E. coli O157:H7) and 99.93% (S. aureus) reduction in comparison to hydrophilic nonporous silica, and 82.95% (E. coli O157:H7) and 84.90% (S. aureus) reduction in comparison to hydrophobic nonporous silica. These results suggest that the use of HNSA as surfaces that come into contact with bacterial pathogens in the healthcare environment can improve bacterial hygiene, and therefore may reduce the rate of HAIs. (paper)

  17. Impact of polishing on the light scattering at aerogel surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnyakov, A.Yu.; Barnyakov, M.Yu.; Bobrovnikov, V.S.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Katcin, A.A.; Kononov, S.A.; Kirilenko, P.S.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Kuyanov, I.A.; Onuchin, A.P.; Ovtin, I.V.; Predein, A.Yu.; Protsenko, R.S.

    2016-01-01

    Particle identification power of modern aerogel RICH detectors strongly depends on optical quality of radiators. It was shown that wavelength dependence of aerogel tile transparency after polishing cannot be described by the standard Hunt formula. The Hunt formula has been modified to describe scattering in a thin layer of silica dust on the surface of aerogel tile. Several procedures of polishing of aerogel tile have been tested. The best result has been achieved while using natural silk tissue. The resulting block has optical smooth surfaces. The measured decrease of aerogel transparency due to surface scattering is about few percent. This result could be used for production of radiators for the Focusing Aerogel RICH detectors.

  18. Aerogels Materials as Space Debris Collectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thierry Woignier

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Material degradation due to the specific space environment becomes a key parameter for space missions. The use of large surface of brittle materials on satellites can produce, if impacted by hypervelocity particles, ejected volumes of mater 100 times higher than the impacting one. The presented work is devoted to the use of silica aerogels as passive detectors. Aerogels have been exposed to the low earth orbit of the ISS for 18 months. The study describes the aerogels process and the choice of synthesis parameters in such a way to get expected features in terms of porosity, mechanical properties, internal stresses, and transparency. Low-density aerogels (0.09 g·cm−3 have been prepared. The control of transparency necessary to see and identify particles and fragments collected is obtained using a base catalysis during gel synthesis. After return to earth, the aerogels samples have been observed using optical microscopy to detect and quantify craters on the exposed surface. First results obtained on a small part of the aerogels indicate a large number of debris collected in the materials.

  19. Comprehensive two-dimensional HPLC to study the interaction of multiple components in Rheum palmatum L. with HSA by coupling a silica-bonded HSA column to a silica monolithic ODS column.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Lianghai; Li, Xin; Feng, Shun; Kong, Liang; Su, Xingye; Chen, Xueguo; Qin, Feng; Ye, Mingliang; Zou, Hanfa

    2006-04-01

    A mode of comprehensive 2-D LC was developed by coupling a silica-bonded HSA column to a silica monolithic ODS column. This system combined the affinity property of the HSA column and the high-speed separation ability of the monolithic ODS column. The affinity chromatography with HSA-immobilized stationary phase was applied to study the interaction of multiple components in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) with HSA according to their affinity to protein in the first dimension. Then the unresolved components retained on the HSA column were further separated on the silica monolithic ODS column in the second dimension. By hyphenating the 2-D separation system to diode array detector and MS detectors, the UV and molecular weight information of the separated compounds can also be obtained. The developed separation system was applied to analysis of the extract of Rheum palmatum L., a number of low-abundant components can be separated on a single peak from the HSA column after normalization of peak heights. Six compounds were preliminarily identified according to their UV and MS spectra. It showed that this system was very useful for biological fingerprinting analysis of the components in TCMs and natural products.

  20. Zwitterionic silica-based monolithic capillary columns for isocratic and gradient hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Moravcová, Dana; Planeta, Josef; Kahle, Vladislav; Roth, Michal

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 1270, DEC 28 (2012), s. 178-185 ISSN 0021-9673 R&D Projects: GA MV VG20112015021; GA ČR(CZ) GAP206/11/0138; GA ČR(CZ) GAP106/12/0522 Institutional support: RVO:68081715 Keywords : HILIC * Monolithic silica column * Nucleoside separation * Nucleic acid base Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation Impact factor: 4.612, year: 2012

  1. Aerogels of 1D Coordination Polymers: From a Non-Porous Metal-Organic Crystal Structure to a Highly Porous Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrián Angulo-Ibáñez

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The processing of an originally non-porous 1D coordination polymer as monolithic gel, xerogel and aerogel is reported as an alternative method to obtain novel metal-organic porous materials, conceptually different to conventional crystalline porous coordination polymer (PCPs or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs. Although the work herein reported is focused upon a particular kind of coordination polymer ([M(μ-ox(4-apy2]n, M: Co(II, Ni(II, the results are of interest in the field of porous materials and of MOFs, as the employed synthetic approach implies that any coordination polymer could be processable as a mesoporous material. The polymerization conditions were fixed to obtain stiff gels at the synthesis stage. Gels were dried at ambient pressure and at supercritical conditions to render well shaped monolithic xerogels and aerogels, respectively. The monolithic shape of the synthesis product is another remarkable result, as it does not require a post-processing or the use of additives or binders. The aerogels of the 1D coordination polymers are featured by exhibiting high pore volumes and diameters ranging in the mesoporous/macroporous regions which endow to these materials the ability to deal with large-sized molecules. The aerogel monoliths present markedly low densities (0.082–0.311 g·cm−3, an aspect of interest for applications that persecute light materials.

  2. Flexible aerogel composite for mechanical stability and process of fabrication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coronado, P.R.; Poco, J.F.

    1999-10-26

    A flexible aerogel and process of fabrication are disclosed. An aerogel solution is mixed with fibers in a mold and allowed to gel. The gel is then processed by supercritical extraction, or by air drying, to produce a flexible aerogel formed to the shape of the mold. The flexible aerogel has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, and can be utilized in numerous applications, such as for energy absorption, insulation (temperature and acoustic), to meet the contours of aircraft shapes, and where space is limited since an inch of aerogel is a 4--5 times better insulator than an inch of fiberglass. The flexible aerogel may be of an inorganic (silica) type or an organic (carbon) type, but containing fibers, such as glass or carbon fibers.

  3. Flexible aerogel composite for mechanical stability and process of fabrication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coronado, Paul R.; Poco, John F.

    1999-01-01

    A flexible aerogel and process of fabrication. An aerogel solution is mixed with fibers in a mold and allowed to gel. The gel is then processed by supercritical extraction, or by air drying, to produce a flexible aerogel formed to the shape of the mold. The flexible aerogel has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, and can be utilized in numerous applications, such as for energy absorption, insulation (temperature and acoustic), to meet the contours of aircraft shapes, and where space is limited since an inch of aerogel is a 4-5 times better insulator than an inch of fiberglass. The flexible aerogel may be of an inorganic (silica) type or an organic (carbon) type, but containing fibers, such as glass or carbon fibers.

  4. Flexible aerogel composite for mechanical stability and process of fabrication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coronado, P.R.; Poco, J.F.

    2000-07-11

    A flexible aerogel and process of fabrication are disclosed. An aerogel solution is mixed with fibers in a mold and allowed to gel. The gel is then processed by supercritical extraction, or by air drying, to produce a flexible aerogel formed to the shape of the mold. The flexible aerogel has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, and can be utilized in numerous applications, such as for energy absorption, insulation (temperature and acoustic), to meet the contours of aircraft shapes, and where space is limited since an inch of aerogel is a 4--5 times better insulator than an inch of fiberglass. The flexible aerogel may be of an inorganic (silica) type or an organic (carbon) type, but containing fibers, such as glass or carbon fibers.

  5. Synthesis and Properties of Cross-Linked Polyamide Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Jarrod C.; Meador, Mary Ann; McCorkle, Linda

    2015-01-01

    We report the first synthesis of cross-linked polyamide aerogels through step growth polymerization using a combination of diamines, diacid chloride and triacid chloride. Polyamide oligomers endcapped with amines are prepared as stable solutions in N-methylpyrrolidinone from several different diamine precursors and 1,3-benzenedicarbonyl dichloride. Addition of 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride yields gels which form in under five minutes according to the scheme shown. Solvent exchange of the gels into ethanol, followed by drying using supercritical CO2 extraction gives colorless aerogels with densities around 0.1 to 0.2 gcm3. Thicker monolithes of the polyamide aerogels are stiff and strong, while thin films of certain formulations are highly flexible, durable, and even translucent. These materials may have use as insulation for deployable space structures, rovers, habitats or extravehicular activity suits as well as in many terrestrial applications. Strucure property relationships of the aerogels, including surface area, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity will be discussed.

  6. Optical characterization of n=1.03 silica aerogel used as radiator in the RICH of HERMES

    CERN Document Server

    Aschenauer, E; Capitani, G P; Carter, P; Casalino, C; Cisbani, E; Coluzza, C; De Leo, R; De Sanctis, E; De Schepper, D; Dzhordzhadze, V; Filippone, B W; Frullani, S; Garibaldi, F; Hansen, J O; Hommez, B; Iodice, M; Jackson, H E; Kaiser, R; Kanesaka, J; Lagamba, L; Muccifora, V; Nappi, E; Nowak, Wolf-Dieter; O'Neill, T G; Potterveld, D; Ryckbosch, D; Sakemi, Y; Sato, F; Schwind, A; Suetsugu, K; Shibata, T A; Thomas, E; Tytgat, M; Urciuoli, G M; Kerckhove, K V D; Vyver, R V D; Yoneyama, S; Zhang, L F

    2000-01-01

    The optical properties of silica aerogel tiles with a refractive index of 1.03 and dimensions 11x11x1 cm sup 3 , produced by the Matsushita Electric Works (Japan), have been measured in the wavelength range from 200 to 900 nm. The tiles are used as one of the two radiators of the ring imaging Cherenkov counter of the HERMES experiment at DESY-HERA. The transmittance of light has been measured on 200 tiles by means of a double beam spectrophotometer. The light transflectance and reflectance have been measured on one tile by means of a single-beam spectrophotometer and an integrating reflecting sphere. Typical values of the measured transmittances at a wavelength lambda=400 nm are around 0.67. The measured transflectance increases almost linearly from 0.4 to 0.96 in the interval 200-300 nm, and remains nearly constant at the value 0.95 in the complementary lambda-range. The measured reflectance, mostly confined below 400 nm, is completely interpretable as backscattering from inside the aerogel, revealing an abs...

  7. Magnetic and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies of nanocrystalline iron oxide aerogels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carpenter, E.E.; Long, J.W.; Rolison, D.R.

    2006-01-01

    A sol-gel synthesis was used to produce iron oxide aerogels. These nanocrystalline aerogels have a pore-solid structure similar to silica aerogels but are composed entirely of iron oxides. Mössbauer experiments and x-ray diffraction showed that the as-prepared aerogel is an amorphous or poorly...... crystalline iron oxide, which crystallized as a partially oxidized magnetite during heating in argon. After further heat treatment in air, the nanocrystallites are fully converted to maghemite. The particles are superparamagnetic at high temperatures, but the magnetic properties are strongly influenced...

  8. Diffusion of gases in metal containing carbon aerogels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marques, L.M.; Conceicao, F.L.; Carrott, M.M.L. Ribeiro; Carrott, P.J.M. [Evora Univ. (Portugal). Centro de Quimica de Evora

    2011-02-15

    Carbon aerogels containing Fe, Ni, Cu or no metal were prepared by carbonisation of polymer aerogels synthesised from 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid and formaldehyde and modified by CVD of benzene. Uptakes and diffusion coefficients of CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2} and O{sub 2} were measured and the results compared with those obtained using a commercial carbon molecular sieve. The results indicated that the diffusion of light gas molecules in carbon aerogels cannot be interpreted solely on the basis of micropore diffusion, but that the very high mesopore volumes of the aerogel monoliths exert a strong influence on the kinetics of diffusion in these materials. The mesoporosity is decreased when the % solids used during synthesis of the polymer precursor increases and this resulted in kinetic behaviour which was more similar to that predicted by Fickian or LDF models. Increasing % solids was also accompanied by generally slower diffusion rates and generally lower uptakes. The single gas uptakes and diffusion coefficients could be altered by varying the % solids used during synthesis of the polymer precursor, by introducing different metals into the polymer hydrogel by ion exchange, or by CVD of benzene on the carbon aerogel. (author)

  9. Diffusion of gases in metal containing carbon aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marques, L.M.; Conceicao, F.L.; Carrott, M.M.L. Ribeiro; Carrott, P.J.M.

    2011-01-01

    Carbon aerogels containing Fe, Ni, Cu or no metal were prepared by carbonisation of polymer aerogels synthesised from 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid and formaldehyde and modified by CVD of benzene. Uptakes and diffusion coefficients of CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 and O 2 were measured and the results compared with those obtained using a commercial carbon molecular sieve. The results indicated that the diffusion of light gas molecules in carbon aerogels cannot be interpreted solely on the basis of micropore diffusion, but that the very high mesopore volumes of the aerogel monoliths exert a strong influence on the kinetics of diffusion in these materials. The mesoporosity is decreased when the % solids used during synthesis of the polymer precursor increases and this resulted in kinetic behaviour which was more similar to that predicted by Fickian or LDF models. Increasing % solids was also accompanied by generally slower diffusion rates and generally lower uptakes. The single gas uptakes and diffusion coefficients could be altered by varying the % solids used during synthesis of the polymer precursor, by introducing different metals into the polymer hydrogel by ion exchange, or by CVD of benzene on the carbon aerogel. (author)

  10. Supercritical methanol drying as a convenient route to phenolic-furfural aerogels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Albert, Donald F.; Bruno, Joseph W. [Department of Chemistry, Wesleyan University, 06459 Middletown, CT (United States); Andrews, Greg R.; Mendenhall, Robert S. [American Aerogel Corporation, 1000 Corporate Row, 06416 Cromwell, CT (United States)

    2001-12-01

    Organic aerogels are prepared by the acid catalyzed cross-linking of phenolic-furfural (PF) precursors in methanol solution, and the solvent is subsequently removed at high temperature as the supercritical fluid. The resulting aerogel is a brown opaque solid and has been prepared as 30 ml cylindrical monoliths exhibiting little or no shrinkage during formation. These solids, which are routinely available with a density as low as ca. 125mg/cm{sup 3}, have been characterized by chemical methods (infrared spectroscopy and CP-MAS 13C NMR spectrometry) and physical techniques (Brunauer-Emmet-Teller surface area, transmission and scanning electron microscopy). In addition, thermal conductivities have been determined, and show that the PF aerogels are excellent thermal insulators. These studies establish that the materials described herein exhibit chemical and physical properties very similar to those seen for organic aerogels prepared with low temperature processing techniques. The current method constitutes a convenient and rapid route to organic aerogels.

  11. Measurements of scattering, transmittance/reflectance, IR-transmittance and thermal conductivity of small aerogel samples

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duer, Karsten; Svendsen, Sv Aa Højgaard

    1997-01-01

    By providing at the same time thermal insulation and transparency the silica aerogel is a very attractive material for the purpose of improving the thermal performance of windows. Nevertheless a lot of problems have to be solved on the way from concept to the developed product. The B1 Aerogels...... project deals with some of these problems.This report summarizes the work that has been carried out on the subject of characterizing the optical and thermal performance of different types of aerogels and aerogel-like materials for the purpose of using aerogel in clear glazings.All measurements presented...

  12. Optical study of the ultrasonic formation process of noble metal nanoparticles dispersed inside the pores of monolithic mesoporous silica

    CERN Document Server

    Fu Gan Hua; Kan Cai Xia; Li Cun Cheng; Fang Qi

    2003-01-01

    Gold nanoparticles dispersed inside the pores of monolithic mesoporous silica were prepared by soaking the silica in a gold (III) ion solution and subsequent ultrasound irradiation. The formation process of gold nanoparticles in the pores of mesoporous silica was investigated based on optical measurements of wrapped and naked soaked silica after ultrasonic irradiation, and the reduction rate effect in solution and pre-soaking effect. It has been shown that acoustic cavitation cannot occur in nano-sized pores. The gold nanoparticles in silica are not formed in situ within the pores but produced mainly by diffusion of the gold clusters formed in the solution during irradiation into the pores. The radicals formed in solution are exhausted before entering the pores of silica. There exists a critical reduction rate in solution, at which the yield of gold nanoparticles in silica reaches a maximum, and above which there is a decrease in the yield. This is attributed to too quick a growth or aggregation of gold clust...

  13. Small-Sized Mg–Al LDH Nanosheets Supported on Silica Aerogel with Large Pore Channels: Textural Properties and Basic Catalytic Performance after Activation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijun Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Layered double hydroxides (LDHs have been widely used as an important subset of solid base catalysts. However, developing low-cost, small-sized LDH nanoparticles with enhanced surface catalytic sites remains a challenge. In this work, silica aerogel (SA-supported, small-sized Mg–Al LDH nanosheets were successfully prepared by one-pot coprecipitation of Mg and Al ions in an alkaline suspension of crushed silica aerogel. The supported LDH nanosheets were uniformly dispersed in the SA substrate with the smallest average radial diameter of 19.2 nm and the thinnest average thickness of 3.2 nm, both dimensions being significantly less than those of the vast majority of LDH nanoparticles reported. The SA/LDH composites also showed large pore volume (up to 1.3 cm3·g and pore diameter (>9 nm, and therefore allow efficient access of reactants to the edge catalytic sites of LDH nanosheets. In a base-catalyzed Henry reaction of benzaldehyde with nitromethane, the SA/LDH catalysts showed high reactant conversions and favorable stability in 6 successive cycles of reactions. The low cost of the SA carrier and LDH precursors, easy preparation method, and excellent catalytic properties make these SA/LDH composites a competitive example of solid-base catalysts.

  14. Optimization of an aerogel cerenkov detector having a mirror light collection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johansson, K.E.; Aakesson, T.; Norrby, J.

    1979-01-01

    Cerenkov detectors with silica aerogel of refractive indec 1.03 as the radiator have been tested in a particle beam at the CERN Proton Synchrotron. With a detector surface of 22 x 50 cm 2 and 9 cm thickness of aerogel, the number of photoelectrons was found to be 6.5 for β = 1 particles. (author)

  15. Silica-based monolithic capillary columns modified by liposomes for characterization of analyte–liposome interactions by capillary liquid chromatography

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Moravcová, Dana; Planeta, Josef; Wiedmer, S. K.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 1317, SI (2013), s. 159-166 ISSN 0021-9673 R&D Projects: GA MV VG20112015021; GA ČR(CZ) GAP206/11/0138 Institutional support: RVO:68081715 Keywords : monolithic silica capillary column * immobilized liposomes * biomimicking stationary phase Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation Impact factor: 4.258, year: 2013

  16. A RICH with aerogel: a study of refractive index uniformity

    CERN Document Server

    Alemi, M; Calvi, M; Matteuzzi, C; Musy, M; Perego, D L; Easo, S

    2004-01-01

    The use of aerogel as a radiator in the RICH detectors of LHCb is a challenge due to the hot environment of the hadron collider LHC. Large size tiles of silica aerogel were recently produced with unprecedented optical quality for such dimensions. Results of laboratory measurements and beam tests are briefly reported. A description of a method to measure the uniformity of the index of refraction within the tile is given.

  17. Clay exfoliation and polymer/clay aerogels by supercritical carbon dioxide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona eLongo

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2 treatments of a montmorillonite (MMT intercalated with ammonium cations bearing two long hydrocarbon tails (organo-modified MMT, OMMT led to OMMT exfoliation, with loss of the long-range order in the packing of the hydrocarbon tails and maintenance of the long-range order in the clay layers. The intercalated and the derived exfoliated OMMT have been deeply characterized, mainly by X-ray diffraction analyses. Monolithic composite aerogels, with large amounts of both intercalated and exfoliated OMMT and including the nanoporous-crystalline δ form of syndiotactic polystyrene (s-PS, have been prepared, by scCO2 extractions of s-PS-based gels. Also for high OMMT content, the gel and aerogel preparation procedures occur without re-aggregation of the exfoliated clay, which is instead observed for other kinds of polymer processing. Aerogels with the exfoliated OMMT have more even dispersion of the clay layers, higher elastic modulus and larger surface area than aerogels with the intercalated OMMT. Extremely light materials with relevant transport properties could be prepared. Moreover, s-PS-based aerogels with exfoliated OMMT could be helpful for the handling of exfoliated clay minerals.

  18. In situ synthesis of Cu-BTC (HKUST-1) in macro-/mesoporous silica monoliths for continuous flow catalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sachse, Alexander; Ameloot, Rob; Coq, Bernard; Fajula, François; Coasne, Benoît; De Vos, Dirk; Galarneau, Anne

    2012-05-16

    The metal-organic framework Cu-BTC has been successfully synthesized as nanoparticles inside the mesopores of silica monoliths featuring a homogeneous macropore network enabling the use of Cu-BTC for continuous flow applications in liquid phase with low pressure drop. High productivity was reached with this catalyst for the Friedländer reaction. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012

  19. Enhanced electrochemical capacitance and oil-absorbability of N-doped graphene aerogel by using amino-functionalized silica as template and doping agent

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Yongxu; Liu, Libin; Xiang, Yu; Zhang, Qiang

    2018-03-01

    The development of novel energy storage devices with high power density and energy density is highly desired. However, as a promising material, the strong π-π interaction of graphene inhibits its applications. Herein, we provide a new approach that amino-functionalized silica are used as both templates to prevent the restacking of the graphene sheets and doping agents simultaneously. The microstructures, porous properties and chemical composition of the resulted N-doped reduced graphene oxide (RGO) aerogels, characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurement, indicate that the amount of SiO2-NH2 has profound effects on the surface area and carbon activity of the graphene sheets. Benefiting from the large specific surface area of 481.8 m2 g-1, low series resistances and high nitrogen doping content (4.4 atom%), the as-fabricated 3D hierarchical porous N-doped RGO aerogel electrode exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance in aqueous and organic electrolyte, such as ultrahigh specific capacitances of 350 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 and excellent reversibility with a cycling efficiency of 88% after 10000 cycles. In addition, the N-doped RGO aerogels possess high oil-absorbability with long recyclability.

  20. Larnite powders and larnite/silica aerogel composites as effective agents for CO{sub 2} sequestration by carbonation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, A., E-mail: alberto.santos@uca.es [Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Cadiz, Puerto Real, 11510 Cadiz (Spain); Ajbary, M.; Morales-Florez, V. [Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Cadiz, Puerto Real, 11510 Cadiz (Spain); Kherbeche, A. [Universite Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Ecole Superieure de Technologie, Fes (Morocco); Pinero, M. [Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, Universidad de Cadiz, Puerto Real, 11510 Cadiz (Spain); Esquivias, L. [Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Fisica, Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC), Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla (Spain)

    2009-09-15

    This paper presents the results of the carbonation reaction of two sample types: larnite (Ca{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}) powders and larnite/silica aerogel composites, the larnite acting as an active phase in a process of direct mineral carbonation. First, larnite powders were synthesized by the reaction of colloidal silica and calcium nitrate in the presence of ethylene glycol. Then, to synthesize the composites, the surface of the larnite powders was chemically modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), and later this mixture was added to a silica sol previously prepared from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). The resulting humid gel was dried in an autoclave under supercritical conditions for the ethanol. The textures and chemical compositions of the powders and composites were characterized.The carbonation reaction of both types of samples was evaluated by means of X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. Both techniques confirm the high efficiency of the reaction at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A complete transformation of the silicate into carbonate resulted after submitting the samples to a flow of pure CO{sub 2} for 15 min. This indicates that for this reaction time, 1 t of larnite could eliminate about 550 kg of CO{sub 2}. The grain size, porosity, and specific surface area are the factors controlling the reaction.

  1. Aerogel as Cherenkov radiator for RICH detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Braem, A.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Calvi, M.; Chesi, E.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Easo, S.; Hansen, C.; Jolly, S.; Joram, C.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Liko, D.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Negri, P.; Neufeld, N.; Onuchin, A.P.; Seguinot, J.; Weilhammer, P.; Wotton, S.

    2003-01-01

    We present here the results obtained using silica aerogel as Cherenkov radiator for the separation and identification of particles in the momentum range from 6 to 10 GeV/c. Photoelectron yield and Cherenkov ring resolution were studied under different experimental conditions and compared to the simulation

  2. Propiedades mecánicas de aerogeles híbridos de sílice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piñero, M.

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Hybrids silica aerogels have been obtained by means the high power ultrasounds application in the precursor liquid and the drying of the wet gel under the supercritical condition of ethanol. The organic chains don’t degrade thermally and accelerate the network shrinkage process by thermal activation. The ultrasounds induce an organic chain crosslinking bonding to the porous silica clusters and avoid its cyclidation. The failure tests by uniaxial compression show an increase of the rupture modulus, passing from 8 MPa for a pure silica aerogel to 24 MPa for an aerogel with a 50 weight % of polymer content. It is also noted a continuous decrease of the Young’s modulus with the polymer content (from 100 to 56 MPa. These hybrid aerogels behave as elastomers with up to a 50% strain, showing a decrease in the relaxation viscoelastic modulus.

    Se han obtenido aerogeles híbridos de sílice orgánico-inorgánico por aplicación de ultrasonidos de alta potencia en los precursores líquidos y posterior secado del gel húmedo en condiciones supercríticas en etanol. Las cadenas orgánicas no se degradan térmicamente y aceleran el proceso de contracción de la red por activación térmica. Los ultrasonidos inducen un entrecruzamiento de cadenas orgánicas que unen los cúmulos de sílice porosa y evitan su ciclidación. Los ensayos de ruptura en compresión uniaxial indicaron un aumento del módulo de ruptura, pasando de 8 MPa para el aerogel de sílice pura hasta 24 MPa para un aerogel de 50% en peso de contenido de polímero. Se observa asimismo una disminución continua en el módulo de Young con el contenido de polímero (de 100 a 56 MPa. Estos aerogeles híbridos se comportan como elastómeros con deformaciones de hasta el 50%, mostrando una disminución del módulo de relajación viscoelástica.

  3. Fractal dimensions of silica gels generated using reactive molecular dynamics simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhattacharya, Sudin; Kieffer, John

    2005-01-01

    We have used molecular dynamics simulations based on a three-body potential with charge transfer to generate nanoporous silica aerogels. Care was taken to reproduce the sol-gel condensation reaction that forms the gel backbone as realistically as possible and to thereby produce credible gel structures. The self-similarity of aerogel structures was investigated by evaluating their fractal dimension from geometric correlations. For comparison, we have also generated porous silica glasses by rupturing dense silica and computed their fractal dimension. The fractal dimension of the porous silica structures was found to be process dependent. Finally, we have determined that the effect of supercritical drying on the fractal nature of condensed silica gels is not appreciable

  4. Properties of single-walled carbon nanotube-based aerogels as a function of nanotube loading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worsley, Marcus A.; Pauzauskie, Peter J.; Kucheyev, Sergei O.; Zaug, Joseph M.; Hamza, Alex V.; Satcher, Joe H.; Baumann, Theodore F.

    2009-01-01

    Here, we present the synthesis and characterization of low-density single-walled carbon nanotube-based aerogels (SWNT-CA). Aerogels with varying nanotube loading (0-55 wt.%) and density (20-350 mg cm -3 ) were fabricated and characterized by four-probe method, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and nitrogen porosimetry. Several properties of the SWNT-CAs were highly dependent upon nanotube loading. At nanotube loadings of 55 wt.%, shrinkage of the aerogel monoliths during carbonization and drying was almost completely eliminated. Electrical conductivities are improved by an order of magnitude for the SWNT-CA (55 wt.% nanotubes) compared to those of foams without nanotubes. Surface areas as high as 184 m 2 g -1 were achieved for SWNT-CAs with greater than 20 wt.% nanotube loading.

  5. Aerogel Projects Ongoing in MSFC's Engineering Directorate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shular, David A.; Smithers, Gweneth A.; Plawsky, Joel L.; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    When we speak of an aerogel material, we are referring more to process and structure am to a specific substance. Aerogel, considered the lightest solid material, has been made from silica for seventy years. Resorcinol-formaldehyde, organic aerogels have been developed more recently. However, aerogel can be made from almost any type of substance, even lead. Because an aerogel is mostly air (about 99 %), the solid substance used will affect the weight very little. The term "aerogel" connotes the sol-gel process used to manufacture the material. The aerogel begins as a liquid "sol," becomes a solid "alcogel," and is then dried to become an "aerogel." The final product has a unique structure, useful for exploitation. It is an "open pore" system with nano-sized particles and pores, has very high surface area, and is highly interconnected. Besides low weight, aerogels have ultimate (lowest) values in other properties: thermal conductivity, refractive index, sound speed, and dielectric constant. Aerogels were first prepared in 1931 by Steven Kistler, who used a supercritical drying step to replace the liquid in a gel with air, preserving the structure (1). Kistler's procedure involved a water-to-alcohol exchange step; in the 1970's, this step was eliminated when a French investigator introduced the use of tetramethylorthosilicate. Still, alcohol drying involved dangerously high temperatures and pressures. In the 1980's, the Microstructured Materials Group at Berkeley Laboratory found that the alcohol in the gel could be replaced with liquid carbon dioxide before supercritical drying, which greatly improved safety (2). 'Me most recent major contribution has been that of Deshpande, Smith and Brinker in New Mexico, who are working to eliminate the supercritical drying step (3). When aerogels were first being developed, they were evaporatively dried. However, the wet gel, when dried, underwent severe shrinkage and cracking; this product was termed "xerogel." When the

  6. Highly luminescent and photostable quantum dot-silica monolith and its application to light-emitting diodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jun, Shinae; Lee, Junho; Jang, Eunjoo

    2013-02-26

    A highly luminescent and photostable quantum dot-silica monolith (QD-SM) substance was prepared by preliminary surface exchange of the QDs and base-catalyzed sol-gel condensation of silica. The SM was heavily doped with 6-mercaptohexanol exchanged QDs up to 12 vol % (26 wt %) without particle aggregation. Propylamine catalyst was important in maintaining the original luminescence of the QDs in the SM during sol-gel condensation. The silica layer was a good barrier against oxygen and moisture, so that the QD-SM maintained its initial luminescence after high-power UV radiation (∼1 W) for 200 h and through the 150 °C LED encapsulant curing process. Green and red light-emitting QD-SMs were applied as color-converting layers on blue LEDs, and the external quantum efficiency reached up to 89% for the green QD-SM and 63% for the red one. A white LED made with a mixture of green and red QDs in the SM, in which the color coordinate was adjusted at (0.23, 0.21) in CIE1931 color space for a backlight application, showed an efficacy of 47 lm/W, the highest value yet reported.

  7. Application of a Burkholderia cepacia lipase-immobilized silica monolith to batch and continuous biodiesel production with a stoichiometric mixture of methanol and crude Jatropha oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takahashi Ryo

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The enzymatic production of biodiesel through alcoholysis of triglycerides has become more attractive because it shows potential in overcoming the drawbacks of chemical processes. In this study, we investigate the production of biodiesel from crude, non-edible Jatropha oil and methanol to characterize Burkholderia cepacia lipase immobilized in an n-butyl-substituted hydrophobic silica monolith. We also evaluate the performance of a lipase-immobilized silica monolith bioreactor in the continuous production of biodiesel. Results The Jatropha oil used contained 18% free fatty acids, which is problematic in a base-catalyzed process. In the lipase-catalyzed reaction, the presence of free fatty acids made the reaction mixture homogeneous and allowed bioconversion to proceed to 90% biodiesel yield after a 12 hour reaction time. The optimal molar ratio of methanol to oil was 3.3 to 3.5 parts methanol to one part oil, with water content of 0.6% (w/w. Further experiments revealed that B. cepacia lipase immobilized in hydrophobic silicates was sufficiently tolerant to methanol, and glycerol adsorbed on the support disturbed the reaction to some extent in the present reaction system. The continuous production of biodiesel was performed at steady state using a lipase-immobilized silica monolith bioreactor loaded with 1.67 g of lipase. The yield of 95% was reached at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/h, although the performance of the continuous bioreactor was somewhat below that predicted from the batch reactor. The bioreactor was operated successfully for almost 50 days with 80% retention of the initial yield. Conclusions The presence of free fatty acids originally contained in Jatropha oil improved the reaction efficiency of the biodiesel production. A combination of B. cepacia lipase and its immobilization support, n-butyl-substituted silica monolith, was effective in the production of biodiesel. This procedure is easily applicable to the design

  8. Determination of phthalate esters in physiological saline solution by monolithic silica spin column extraction method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Lu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Monolithic silica spin column extraction (MonoSpin-SPE was developed as a simple, sensitive, and eco-friendly pretreatment method which combined with ultra-fast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS to determine the levels of six phthalate esters, dimethyl-(DMP, diethyl-(DEP, dipropyl- [DPrP], butyl-benzyl-(BBP, dicyclohexyl(DcHP, and di- n-octyl-(DOP phthalate in physiological saline samples. Under optimized experimental conditions, the method was linear in the following ranges: 0.2- 50 μ/L for DMP, DEP, DPrP, DcHP and DOP; 5 – 100 μ/L for BBP. The correlation coefficients (R2 were in the range of O. 9951 – O. 9995 for all the analytes and the limits of detection (LODs and limits of quantification (LOQs were in the ranges of 0.02 – 0.9 μ/L and 0.08 – 2.7 μ/L, respectively. The pretreatment process showed good reproducibility with inter-day and intra-day relative standard deviations (RSDs below 8.5% and 11.2%, respectively. This method was used to determine the levels of six phthalate esters in physiological saline samples and the recoveries ranged from 71.2% to 107. 3%. DMP and DEP were found in actual physical saline samples (brand A and brand B. Keywords: Monolithic silica spin column, Phthalate esters, Physiological saline samples, Ultra fast liquid chromatographymass spectrometry (UFLC-MS

  9. Highly Luminescent and Ultrastable CsPbBr3 Perovskite Quantum Dots Incorporated into a Silica/Alumina Monolith.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhichun; Kong, Long; Huang, Shouqiang; Li, Liang

    2017-07-03

    We successfully prepared QDs incorporated into a silica/alumina monolith (QDs-SAM) by a simple sol-gel reaction of an Al-Si single precursor with CsPbBr 3 QDs blended in toluene solution, without adding water and catalyst. The resultant transparent monolith exhibits high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY) up to 90 %, and good photostability under strong illumination of blue light for 300 h. We show that the preliminary ligand exchange of didodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (DDAB) was very important to protect CsPbBr 3 QDs from surface damages during the sol-gel reaction, which not only allowed us to maintain the original optical properties of CsPbBr 3 QDs but also prevented the aggregation of QDs and made the monolith transparent. The CsPbBr 3 QDs-SAM in powder form was easily mixed into the resins and applied as color-converting layer with curing on blue light-emitting diodes (LED). The material showed a high luminous efficacy of 80 lm W -1 and a narrow emission with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 25 nm. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Application of a Fast Separation Method for Anti-diabetics in Pharmaceuticals Using Monolithic Column: Comparative Study With Silica Based C-18 Particle Packed Column.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemdan, A; Abdel-Aziz, Omar

    2018-04-01

    Run time is a predominant factor in HPLC for quality control laboratories especially if there is large number of samples have to be analyzed. Working at high flow rates cannot be attained with silica based particle packed column due to elevated backpressure issues. The use of monolithic column as an alternative to traditional C-18 column was tested for fast separation of pharmaceuticals, where the results were very competitive. The performance comparison of both columns was tested for separation of anti-diabetic combination containing Metformin, Pioglitazone and Glimepiride using Gliclazide as an internal standard. Working at high flow rates with less significant backpressure was obtained with the monolithic column where the run time was reduced from 6 min in traditional column to only 1 min in monolithic column with accepted resolution. The structure of the monolith contains many pores which can adapt the high flow rate of the mobile phase. Moreover, peak symmetry and equilibration time were more efficient with monolithic column.

  11. Construction of silica aerogel radiator system for Belle II RICH Counter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adachi, I.; Dolenec, R.; Hataya, K.; Iori, S.; Iwata, S.; Kakuno, H.; Kataura, R.; Kawai, H.; Kindo, H.; Kobayashi, T.; Korpar, S.; Križan, P.; Kumita, T.; Mrvar, M.; Nishida, S.; Ogawa, K.; Ogawa, S.; Pestotnik, R.; Šantelj, L.; Sumiyoshi, T.; Tabata, M.; Yonenaga, M.; Yusa, Y.

    2017-12-01

    We have developed a RICH counter as a new forward particle identification device for the Belle II experiment. As a Cherenkov radiator in this counter, a dual aerogel layer combination consisting of two refractive indicies, n=1.045 and 1.055, is employed. Mass production of these aerogel tiles has been done during 2013-2014 with new method improved by Chiba group. Optical qualities for them have been examined. The refractive indices of the obtained tiles were found to be in good agreement with our expectations, and the transparencies were high enough to be used for the RICH radiator.

  12. Damping and tuning of the fibre violin modes in monolithic silica suspensions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gossler, S; Cagnoli, G; Crooks, D R M; Lueck, H; Rowan, S; Smith, J R; Strain, K A; Hough, J; Danzmann, K

    2004-01-01

    High Q mirror suspensions are a key element of the advanced interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. In December 2002 the last of the final interferometer optics of GEO 600 were monolithically suspended, using fused silica fibres. The violin modes of the suspension fibres can have Q greater than 10 8 and can therefore interfere with the interferometer length control servo. Hence, the violin modes need to be damped, without degrading the pendulum Q itself. Furthermore, the frequency spread of the fibres used has to be small to allow for high Q notch filtering in the length control servo. The requirements for the violin modes of the two GEO 600 inboard suspensions are Q 6 for the fundamental and Q 6 for the first harmonic mode, respectively. The frequency spread should not exceed 10% within one mode. To accomplish that, two sections of the fibres were coated with amorphous Teflon. By applying the coating, the Q of the relevant modes can be degraded to the desired values and furthermore, the frequencies of these modes can be tuned almost independently with a good accuracy over a wide range. After welding the fibres in the monolithic suspension, a corrective coating was applied to some fibres, to compensate for the frequency spread due to the tension spread of the four fibres within a suspension. We present the method and the results achieved

  13. Capillary Condensation of Liquid 4He in Aerogel on Cooling Through λ Point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyashita, W.; Yoneyama, K.; Kato, H.; Nomura, R.; Okuda, Y.

    2006-01-01

    Capillary condensation of liquid 4He in silica aerogel with a 90% porosity was investigated visually. The initial condition of the experiment was such that liquid 4He was present in the sample cell but not in the aerogel. This situation was realized by introducing the liquid into the cell at a fast rate to avoid liquefaction in the aerogel. The free surface of the liquid rose up in the cell with filling and eventually reached the bottom of the aerogel. Then, the aerogel absorbed the liquid by capillary condensation. The height of the liquid in the aerogel rose with time t roughly as t1/2 in the normal fluid phase. This behavior was consistent with the Washburn model. When the system was cooled through the λ point during the condensation, the liquid height started to rise faster in the superfluid phase with a constant velocity of about 0.3 mm/sec. The dynamics of capillary condensation was strongly dependent on whether the liquid 4He was in the normal or the superfluid phase

  14. Simple practical approach for sample loading prior to DNA extraction using a silica monolith in a microfluidic device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Kirsty J; Joyce, Domino A; Docker, Peter T; Dyer, Charlotte E; Greenman, John; Greenway, Gillian M; Haswell, Stephen J

    2009-12-07

    A novel DNA loading methodology is presented for performing DNA extraction on a microfluidic system. DNA in a chaotropic salt solution was manually loaded onto a silica monolith orthogonal to the subsequent flow of wash and elution solutions. DNA was successfully extracted from buccal swabs using electro-osmotic pumping (EOP) coupled with in situ reagents contained within a 1.5% agarose gel matrix. The extracted DNA was of sufficient quantity and purity for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification.

  15. Development and Investigation of Evacuated Windows Based on Monolithic Silica Xerogel Spacers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Svendsen, Sv Aa Højgaard

    hydrophobic it has to be protected against liquid water, that will demolish the pore structure of the material due to the surface tensions. For the application in window glazings the protection against liquid water is formed by placing the xerogel in between two sheets of glass and sealing the rim...... conductivity. Furthermore, properties necessary for the application (task 3) were investigated: Thermal expansion, elastic modulus and long term (inelastic) creep as well as water vapour adsorption and hence condensation risk.The thermal properties make the monolithic silica xerogel a well suited material...... with the low thermal conductivity offers good possibilities for production of energy efficient windows. For the xerogel window system it is necessary to have the xerogel sufficiently dried, if not hydrophobic xerogels are used, because residual water vapour adsorbed in the material will cause condensation...

  16. Highly luminescent and ultrastable CsPbBr{sub 3} perovskite quantum dots incorporated into a silica/alumina monolith

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Zhichun; Kong, Long; Huang, Shouqiang; Li, Liang [School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)

    2017-07-03

    We successfully prepared QDs incorporated into a silica/alumina monolith (QDs-SAM) by a simple sol-gel reaction of an Al-Si single precursor with CsPbBr{sub 3} QDs blended in toluene solution, without adding water and catalyst. The resultant transparent monolith exhibits high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY) up to 90 %, and good photostability under strong illumination of blue light for 300 h. We show that the preliminary ligand exchange of didodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (DDAB) was very important to protect CsPbBr{sub 3} QDs from surface damages during the sol-gel reaction, which not only allowed us to maintain the original optical properties of CsPbBr{sub 3} QDs but also prevented the aggregation of QDs and made the monolith transparent. The CsPbBr{sub 3} QDs-SAM in powder form was easily mixed into the resins and applied as color-converting layer with curing on blue light-emitting diodes (LED). The material showed a high luminous efficacy of 80 lm W{sup -1} and a narrow emission with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 25 nm. (copyright 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  17. Iron-Doped Carbon Aerogels: Novel Porous Substrates for Direct Growth of Carbon Nanotubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiner, S. A.; Baumann, T. F.; Kong, J.; Satcher, J. H.; Dresselhaus, M. S.

    2007-02-20

    We present the synthesis and characterization of Fe-doped carbon aerogels (CAs) and demonstrate the ability to grow carbon nanotubes directly on monoliths of these materials to afford novel carbon aerogel-carbon nanotube composites. Preparation of the Fe-doped CAs begins with the sol-gel polymerization of the potassium salt of 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid with formaldehyde, affording K{sup +}-doped gels that can then be converted to Fe{sup 2+}- or Fe{sup 3+}-doped gels through an ion exchange process, dried with supercritical CO{sub 2} and subsequently carbonized under an inert atmosphere. Analysis of the Fe-doped CAs by TEM, XRD and XPS revealed that the doped iron species are reduced during carbonization to form metallic iron and iron carbide nanoparticles. The sizes and chemical composition of the reduced Fe species were related to pyrolysis temperature as well as the type of iron salt used in the ion exchange process. Raman spectroscopy and XRD analysis further reveal that, despite the presence of the Fe species, the CA framework is not significantly graphitized during pyrolysis. The Fe-doped CAs were subsequently placed in a thermal CVD reactor and exposed to a mixture of CH{sub 4} (1000 sccm), H{sub 2} (500 sccm), and C{sub 2}H{sub 4} (20 sccm) at temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 C for 10 minutes, resulting in direct growth of carbon nanotubes on the aerogel monoliths. Carbon nanotubes grown by this method appear to be multiwalled ({approx}25 nm in diameter and up to 4 mm long) and grow through a tip-growth mechanism that pushes catalytic iron particles out of the aerogel framework. The highest yield of CNTs were grown on Fe-doped CAs pyrolyzed at 800 C treated at CVD temperatures of 700 C.

  18. Iron-Doped Carbon Aerogels: Novel Porous Substrates for Direct Growth of Carbon Nanotubes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steiner, S A; Baumann, T F; Kong, J; Satcher, J H; Dresselhaus, M S

    2007-02-15

    We present the synthesis and characterization of Fe-doped carbon aerogels (CAs) and demonstrate the ability to grow carbon nanotubes directly on monoliths of these materials to afford novel carbon aerogel-carbon nanotube composites. Preparation of the Fe-doped CAs begins with the sol-gel polymerization of the potassium salt of 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid with formaldehyde, affording K{sup +}-doped gels that can then be converted to Fe{sup 2+}- or Fe{sup 3+}-doped gels through an ion exchange process, dried with supercritical CO{sub 2} and subsequently carbonized under an inert atmosphere. Analysis of the Fe-doped CAs by TEM, XRD and XPS revealed that the doped iron species are reduced during carbonization to form metallic iron and iron carbide nanoparticles. The sizes and chemical composition of the reduced Fe species were related to pyrolysis temperature as well as the type of iron salt used in the ion exchange process. Raman spectroscopy and XRD analysis further reveal that, despite the presence of the Fe species, the CA framework is not significantly graphitized during pyrolysis. The Fe-doped CAs were subsequently placed in a thermal CVD reactor and exposed to a mixture of CH{sub 4} (1000 sccm), H{sub 2} (500 sccm), and C{sub 2}H{sub 4} (20 sccm) at temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 C for 10 minutes, resulting in direct growth of carbon nanotubes on the aerogel monoliths. Carbon nanotubes grown by this method appear to be multiwalled ({approx}25 nm in diameter and up to 4 mm long) and grow through a tip-growth mechanism that pushes catalytic iron particles out of the aerogel framework. The highest yield of CNTs were grown on Fe-doped CAs pyrolyzed at 800 C treated at CVD temperatures of 700 C.

  19. Damping and tuning of the fibre violin modes in monolithic silica suspensions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gossler, S [Max-Planck-Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institute) and University of Hannover, Callinstr 38, D-30167 Hannover (Germany); Cagnoli, G [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Crooks, D R M [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Lueck, H [Max-Planck-Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institute) and University of Hannover, Callinstr 38, D-30167 Hannover (Germany); Rowan, S [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Smith, J R [Max-Planck-Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institute) and University of Hannover, Callinstr 38, D-30167 Hannover (Germany); Strain, K A [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Hough, J [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Danzmann, K [Max-Planck-Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institute) and University of Hannover, Callinstr 38, D-30167 Hannover (Germany)

    2004-03-07

    High Q mirror suspensions are a key element of the advanced interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. In December 2002 the last of the final interferometer optics of GEO 600 were monolithically suspended, using fused silica fibres. The violin modes of the suspension fibres can have Q greater than 10{sup 8} and can therefore interfere with the interferometer length control servo. Hence, the violin modes need to be damped, without degrading the pendulum Q itself. Furthermore, the frequency spread of the fibres used has to be small to allow for high Q notch filtering in the length control servo. The requirements for the violin modes of the two GEO 600 inboard suspensions are Q < 3 x 10{sup 6} for the fundamental and Q < 2 x 10{sup 6} for the first harmonic mode, respectively. The frequency spread should not exceed 10% within one mode. To accomplish that, two sections of the fibres were coated with amorphous Teflon. By applying the coating, the Q of the relevant modes can be degraded to the desired values and furthermore, the frequencies of these modes can be tuned almost independently with a good accuracy over a wide range. After welding the fibres in the monolithic suspension, a corrective coating was applied to some fibres, to compensate for the frequency spread due to the tension spread of the four fibres within a suspension. We present the method and the results achieved.

  20. Hybrid aerogels and bioactive aerogels under uniaxial compression: an in situ SAXS study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esquivias, L.

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The complex structure of hybrid organic/inorganic aerogels is composed by an inorganic phase covalently bonded to an organic chain forming a copolymer. Conventional hybrid aerogels were studied as well as bioactive hybrid aerogels, that is, aerogels with a calcium active phase added. In this work, the relationship between mechanical response and nanostructure was studied, using a specifically designed sample-holder for in situ uniaxial compression obtaining at the same time the small-angle X-ray pattern from synchrotron radiation (SAXS. Structural elements can be described as a particulated silica core surrounded by the organic chains. These chains are compressed on the direction parallel to the load, and a relationship between macroscopic uniaxial compression and particle and pore deformations can be established.

    La compleja estructura de los aerogeles híbridos orgánico/inorgánicos está compuesta por una fase inorgánica de sílice, unida mediante enlaces covalentes a una red de cadenas orgánicas. Se han estudiado composites híbridos convencionales y bioactivos, esto es, con una fase activa de calcio añadida. En este trabajo se ha investigado la relación entre la respuesta mecánica y la nanoestructura, con ayuda de un portamuestras específicamente diseñado para el estudio in situ de muestras bajo compresión uniaxial, a la vez que se obtiene el espectro de rayos-X a bajo-ángulo de radiación sincrotrón (SAXS. Los elementos estructurales se pueden describir como núcleos particulados de sílice rodeados de las cadenas orgánicas. Estas, se comprimen en la dirección paralela a la carga pudiéndose establecer una relación entre la compresión uniaxial macroscópica y la deformación de las partículas y poros que forman la estructura.

  1. Silica-Immobilized Enzyme Reactors

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-08-01

    Silica-IMERs 14 implicated in neurological disorders such as Schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.[86] Drug discovery for targets that can alter the...primarily the activation of prodrugs and proantibiotics for cancer treatments or antibiotic therapy , respectively.[87] Nitrobenzene nitroreductase was...BuChE) Monolith disks* Packed Silica Biosilica Epoxide- Silica Silica-gel Enzyme Human AChE Human AChE Human AChE Equine BuChE Human

  2. Energy down converting organic fluorophore functionalized mesoporous silica hybrids for monolith-coated light emitting diodes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Börgardts

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The covalent attachment of organic fluorophores in mesoporous silica matrices for usage as energy down converting phosphors without employing inorganic transition or rare earth metals is reported in this article. Triethoxysilylpropyl-substituted derivatives of the blue emitting perylene, green emitting benzofurazane, and red emitting Nile red were synthesized and applied in the synthesis of mesoporous hybrid materials by postsynthetic grafting to commercially available MCM-41. These individually dye-functionalized hybrid materials are mixed in variable ratios to furnish a powder capable of emitting white light with CIE chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.33, y = 0.33 and an external quantum yield of 4.6% upon irradiation at 410 nm. Furthermore, as a proof of concept two different device setups of commercially available UV light emitting diodes, are coated with silica monoliths containing the three triethoxysilylpropyl-substituted fluorophore derivatives. These coatings are able to convert the emitted UV light into light with correlated color temperatures of very cold white (41100 K, 10700 K as well as a greenish white emission with correlated color temperatures of about 5500 K.

  3. Aerogel-Based Insulation for High-Temperature Industrial Processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dr. Owen Evans

    2011-10-13

    Under this program, Aspen Aerogels has developed an industrial insulation called Pyrogel HT, which is 4-5 times more thermally efficient than current non-aerogel technology. Derived from nanoporous silica aerogels, Pyrogel HT was specifically developed to address a high temperature capability gap not currently met with Aspen Aerogels{trademark} flagship product, Pyrogel XT. Pyrogel XT, which was originally developed on a separate DOE contract (DE-FG36-06GO16056), was primarily optimized for use in industrial steam processing systems, where application temperatures typically do not exceed 400 C. At the time, further improvements in thermal performance above 400 C could not be reasonably achieved for Pyrogel XT without significantly affecting other key material properties using the current technology. Cumulative sales of Pyrogel HT into domestic power plants should reach $125MM through 2030, eventually reaching about 10% of the total insulation market share in that space. Global energy savings would be expected to scale similarly. Over the same period, these sales would reduce domestic energy consumption by more than 65 TBtu. Upon branching out into all industrial processes in the 400 C-650 C regime, Pyrogel HT would reach annual sales levels of $150MM, with two-thirds of that being exported.

  4. Preparation and Characterization of a Calcium Carbonate Aerogel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johann Plank

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We report on a facile method for the preparation of a calcium carbonate aerogel consisting of aggregated secondary vaterite particles with an approximate average diameter of 50 nm. It was synthesized via a sol-gel process by reacting calcium oxide with carbon dioxide in methanol and subsequent supercritical drying of the alcogel with carbon dioxide. The resulting monolith was opaque, brittle and had overall dimensions of 6×2×1 cm. It was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, nitrogen adsorption method (BET, and scanning electron microscopy.

  5. Monolithic integration of a silica AWG and Ge photodiodes on Si photonic platform for one-chip WDM receiver.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishi, Hidetaka; Tsuchizawa, Tai; Kou, Rai; Shinojima, Hiroyuki; Yamada, Takashi; Kimura, Hideaki; Ishikawa, Yasuhiko; Wada, Kazumi; Yamada, Koji

    2012-04-09

    On the silicon (Si) photonic platform, we monolithically integrated a silica-based arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) and germanium (Ge) photodiodes (PDs) using low-temperature fabrication technology. We confirmed demultiplexing by the AWG, optical-electrical signal conversion by Ge PDs, and high-speed signal detection at all channels. In addition, we mounted a multichannel transimpedance amplifier/limiting amplifier (TIA/LA) circuit on the fabricated AWG-PD device using flip-chip bonding technology. The results show the promising potential of our Si photonic platform as a photonics-electronics convergence.

  6. Mechanically Strong, Polymer Cross-linked Aerogels (X-Aerogels)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leventis, Nicholas

    2006-01-01

    Aerogels comprise a class of low-density, high porous solid objects consisting of dimensionally quasi-stable self-supported three-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles. Aerogels are pursued because of properties above and beyond those of the individual nanoparticles, including low thermal conductivity, low dielectric constant and high acoustic impedance. Possible applications include thermal and vibration insulation, dielectrics for fast electronics, and hosting of functional guests for a wide variety of optical, chemical and electronic applications. Aerogels, however, are extremely fragile materials, hence they have found only limited application in some very specialized environments, for example as Cerenkov radiation detectors in certain types of nuclear reactors, aboard spacecraft as collectors of hypervelocity particles (refer to NASA's Stardust program) and as thermal insulators on planetary vehicles on Mars (refer to Sojourner Rover in 1997 and Spirit and Opportunity in 2004). Along these lines, the X-Aerogel is a new NASA-developed strong lightweight material that has resolved the fragility problem of traditional (native) aerogels. X-Aerogels are made by applying a conformal polymer coating on the surfaces of the skeletal nanoparticles of native aerogels (see Scanning Electron Micrographs). Since the relative amounts of the polymeric crosslinker and the backbone are comparable, X-Aerogels can be viewed either as aerogels modified by the templated accumulation of polymer on the skeletal nanoparticles, or as nanoporous polymers made by remplated casting of polymer on a nanostructured framework. The most striking feature of X-Aerogels is that for a nominal 3-fold increase in density (still a ultralighweight material), the mechanical strength can be up to 300 times higher than the strength of the underlying native aerogel. Thus, X-Aerogels combine a multiple of the specific compressive strength of steel, with the the thermal conductivity of styrofoam. X-Aerogels

  7. Superinsulating Polyisocyanate Based Aerogels: A Targeted Search for the Optimum Solvent System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Zhiyuan; Snellings, Geert M B F; Koebel, Matthias M; Malfait, Wim J

    2017-05-31

    Polyisocyanate based aerogels combine ultralow thermal conductivities with better mechanical properties than silica aerogel, but these properties critically depend on the nature of the gelation solvent, perhaps more so than on any other parameter. Here, we present a systematic study of the relationship between the polyurethane-polyisocyanurate (PUR-PIR) aerogel microstructure, surface area, thermal conductivity, and density and the gelation solvent's Hansen solubility parameters for an industrially relevant PUR-PIR rigid foam formulation. We first investigated aerogels prepared in acetone-dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) blends and observed a minimum in thermal conductivity (λ) and maximum in specific surface area for an acetone:DMSO ratio of 85:15 v/v. We then prepared PUR-PIR aerogels in 32 different solvent blends, divided into three series with δ Dispersion , δ Polarity , and δ H-bonding fixed at 15.94, 11.30, and 7.48 MPa 1/2 , respectively, corresponding to the optimum parameters for the acetone:DMSO series. The aerogel properties display distinct dependencies on the various solubility parameters: aerogels with low thermal conductivity can be synthesized in solvents with a high δ H-bonding parameter (above 7.2) and δ Dispersion around 16.3 MPa 1/2 . In contrast, the δ Polarity parameter is of lesser importance. Our study highlights the importance of the gelation solvent, clarifies the influence of the different solvent properties, and provides a methodology for a targeted search across the solvent chemical space based on the Hansen solubility parameters.

  8. Aerogels in Chemical Engineering: Strategies Toward Tailor-Made Aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smirnova, Irina; Gurikov, Pavel

    2017-06-07

    The present review deals with recent advances in the rapidly growing field of aerogel research and technology. The major focus of the review lies in approaches that allow tailoring of aerogel properties to meet application-driven requirements. The decisive properties of aerogels are discussed with regard to existing and potential application areas. Various tailoring strategies, such as modulation of the pore structure, coating, surface modification, and post-treatment, are illustrated by results of the last decade. In view of commercialization of aerogel-based products, a panorama of current industrial aerogel suppliers is given, along with a discussion of possible alternative sources for raw materials and precursors. Finally, growing points and perspectives of the aerogel field are summarized.

  9. Monolithic multinozzle emitters for nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Daojing [Daly City, CA; Yang, Peidong [Kensington, CA; Kim, Woong [Seoul, KR; Fan, Rong [Pasadena, CA

    2011-09-20

    Novel and significantly simplified procedures for fabrication of fully integrated nanoelectrospray emitters have been described. For nanofabricated monolithic multinozzle emitters (NM.sup.2 emitters), a bottom up approach using silicon nanowires on a silicon sliver is used. For microfabricated monolithic multinozzle emitters (M.sup.3 emitters), a top down approach using MEMS techniques on silicon wafers is used. The emitters have performance comparable to that of commercially-available silica capillary emitters for nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry.

  10. Development of a bi-functional silica monolith for electro-osmotic pumping and DNA clean-up/extraction using gel-supported reagents in a microfluidic device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oakley, Jennifer A; Shaw, Kirsty J; Docker, Peter T; Dyer, Charlotte E; Greenman, John; Greenway, Gillian M; Haswell, Stephen J

    2009-06-07

    A silica monolith used to support both electro-osmotic pumping (EOP) and the extraction/elution of DNA coupled with gel-supported reagents is described. The benefits of the combined EOP extraction/elution system were illustrated by combining DNA extraction and gene amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process. All the reagents necessary for both processes were supported within pre-loaded gels that allow the reagents to be stored at 4 degrees C for up to four weeks in the microfluidic device. When carrying out an analysis the crude sample only needed to be hydrodynamically introduced into the device which was connected to an external computer controlled power supply via platinum wire electrodes. DNA was extracted with 65% efficiency after loading lysed cells onto a silica monolith. Ethanol contained within an agarose gel matrix was then used to wash unwanted debris away from the sample by EOP (100 V cm(-1) for 5 min). The retained DNA was subsequently eluted from the monolith by water contained in a second agarose gel, again by EOP using an electric field of 100 V cm(-1) for 5 min, and transferred into the PCR reagent containing gel. The eluted DNA in solution was successfully amplified by PCR, confirming that the concept of a complete self-contained microfluidic device could be realised for DNA sample clean up and amplification, using a simple pumping and on-chip reagent storage methodology.

  11. Carbon aerogels; Les aerogels de carbone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berthon-Fabry, S.; Achard, P

    2003-06-15

    The carbon aerogel is a nano-porous material at open porosity, electrical conductor. The aerogels morphology is variable in function of the different synthesis parameters. This characteristic offers to the aerogels a better adaptability to many applications: electrodes (super condensers, fuel cells). The author presents the materials elaboration and their applications. It provides also the research programs: fundamental research, realization of super-condenser electrodes, fuel cells electrodes, gas storage materials and opaque materials for thermal insulation. (A.L.B.)

  12. Facile Synthesis of Flexible Methylsilsesquioxane Aerogels with Surface Modifications for Sound- Absorbance, Fast Dye Adsorption and Oil/Water Separation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xingzhong Guo

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available New flexible methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ aerogels have been facilely prepared by a sol–gel process with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS and dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS as co-precursors, followed by surface modification and ambient pressure drying. The microstructure, mechanical properties and hydrophobicity of these MSQ aerogels after surface modifications of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO and/or hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS were investigated in detail, and the applications of surface-modified MSQ aerogels in sound-absorbance, fast dye adsorption and oil/water separation were evaluated, respectively. The MSQ aerogels surface-modified by HMDS possess flexibility, elasticity and superhydrophobicity, and demonstrate good performance in the mentioned applications. The resultant MSQ aerogel used in sound-absorbance has high frequency (about 6 kHz acoustic absorptivity of up to 80%, benefiting from its macroporous structure and porosity of 94%, and it also possesses intermediate frequency acoustic absorptivity (about 1 kHz up to 80% owing to its elasticity. This MSQ aerogel can selectively separate oil from oil/water mixtures with high efficiency due to its superhydrophobicity and superlipophilicity, resulting from a lot of methyl groups, density as low as 0.12 cm3·g−1 and a water contact angle as high as 157°. This MSQ aerogel can be assembled to be a monolithic column applied for fast dye adsorption, and shows selective adsorption for anionic dyes and removal efficiency of methyl orange of up to 95%.

  13. Ambient Dried Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Steven M.; Paik, Jong-Ah

    2013-01-01

    A method has been developed for creating aerogel using normal pressure and ambient temperatures. All spacecraft, satellites, and landers require the use of thermal insulation due to the extreme environments encountered in space and on extraterrestrial bodies. Ambient dried aerogels introduce the possibility of using aerogel as thermal insulation in a wide variety of instances where supercritically dried aerogels cannot be used. More specifically, thermoelectric devices can use ambient dried aerogel, where the advantages are in situ production using the cast-in ability of an aerogel. Previously, aerogels required supercritical conditions (high temperature and high pressure) to be dried. Ambient dried aerogels can be dried at room temperature and pressure. This allows many materials, such as plastics and certain metal alloys that cannot survive supercritical conditions, to be directly immersed in liquid aerogel precursor and then encapsulated in the final, dried aerogel. Additionally, the metalized Mylar films that could not survive the previous methods of making aerogels can survive the ambient drying technique, thus making multilayer insulation (MLI) materials possible. This results in lighter insulation material as well. Because this innovation does not require high-temperature or high-pressure drying, ambient dried aerogels are much less expensive to produce. The equipment needed to conduct supercritical drying costs many tens of thousands of dollars, and has associated running expenses for power, pressurized gasses, and maintenance. The ambient drying process also expands the size of the pieces of aerogel that can be made because a high-temperature, high-pressure system typically has internal dimensions of up to 30 cm in diameter and 60 cm in height. In the case of this innovation, the only limitation on the size of the aerogels produced would be in the ability of the solvent in the wet gel to escape from the gel network.

  14. Densification and Strengthening of Aerogels by Sintering Heat Treatments or Plastic Compression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thierry Woignier

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to their broad range of porosity, aerogels are suited to various applications. The advantages of a broad range of porosity are used directly, for example, in thermal and acoustic insulation, as materials for space applications or in catalysers. However, an overly high pore volume can also be a drawback, for example, in a glass precursor and host matrix. Fortunately, aerogel porosity can be tailored using sintering or isostatic compression. Sets of silica aerogels—sintered and compressed aerogels—have been studied with the objective of comparing these different densification mechanisms. We focus on the mechanical changes during the two processes of densification.

  15. Reversed-phase HPLC analysis of levetiracetam in tablets using monolithic and conventional C18 silica columns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Can, Nafiz O; Arli, Goksel

    2010-01-01

    Development and validation of an RP-HPLC method for determination of levetiracetam in pharmaceutical tablets is described. The separation and quantification of levetiracetam and caffeine (internal standard) were performed using a single analytical procedure with two different types of stationary phases, conventional Phenomenex Gemini C18 (100 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) and Merck Chromolith Performance RP18e (100 x 4.6 mm, macropore size 2 mm, micropore size 13 nm) monolithic silica. Five-microliter aliquots of samples were injected into the system and eluted using water-acetonitrile (90 + 10, v/v) mobile phase pumped at the rate of 1 mL/min. The analyte peaks were detected at 200 nm using a diode array detector with adequate resolution. Validation studies were performed using the method recommended by the International Conference on Harmonization, the U.S. Pharmacopeia, and AOAC INTERNATIONAL, which includes accuracy, precision, range, limits, robustness, and system suitability parameters. Levetiracetam and caffeine were detected in about 7 min using the conventional column, whereas less than 5 min was required when the monolithic column was used. Calibration plots had r values close to unity in the range of 0.8-8.0 microg/mL. Assay of levetiracetam in a tablet formulation was demonstrated as an application to real samples.

  16. Biodiesel synthesis using K2CO3/Al–O–Si aerogel catalysts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IVANA LUKIĆ

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study, catalysts for fatty acid methyl esters (FAME or bio-diesel synthesis with K2CO3 as the active component on an alumina/silica support were synthesized using the sol–gel method, which was followed by drying the “dense” wet gels with supercritical carbon dioxide to obtain the aerogels. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and N2 physisorption at 77 K, and tested in the methanolysis of sunflower oil. The effects of reaction variables, such as reaction time, temperature and methanol to oil molar ratio, on the yield of FAME were investigated. The aerogel catalysts with K2CO3 as the active component on an alumina/silica support exhibited good activity in the methanolysis of sunflower oil. The leaching of potassium when the catalyst was in contact with pure methanol under the working conditions of methanolysis was also tested in this study, indicating that it occurred only at higher temperatures, while at lower ones, it was negligible.

  17. PREPARATION OF MESOPOROUS TITANIA-SILICA AEROGELS BY CO2 SUPERCRITICAL EXTRACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvester Tursiloadi

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Stable anatase is attractive because of its notable functions for photocatalysis and photon-electron transfer.  TiO2-nanoparticles dispersed SiO2 wet gels were prepared by hydrolysis of Ti(OC4H9n4 and Si(OC2H54 in a 2-propanol solution with acid catalyst.  The solvent in the wet gels was supercritically extracted using CO2 at 60 oC and 22 Mpa in one-step.  Thermal evolution of the microstructure of the extracted gels (aerogels was evaluated by XRD measurements, TEM and N2 adsorption measurements. The as-extracted aerogel with a large specific surface area, more than 365 m2g-1, contained anatase nanoparticles, about 5 nm in diameter.  The anatase phase was stable after calcinations at temperatures up to 1000 oC, and BET specific surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter did not change significantly after calcinations at temperature up to 800 oC.   Keywords: Stable anatase, sol-gel, CO2 supercritical extraction.

  18. Parametric Analysis to Study the Influence of Aerogel-Based Renders' Components on Thermal and Mechanical Performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ximenes, Sofia; Silva, Ana; Soares, António; Flores-Colen, Inês; de Brito, Jorge

    2016-05-04

    Statistical models using multiple linear regression are some of the most widely used methods to study the influence of independent variables in a given phenomenon. This study's objective is to understand the influence of the various components of aerogel-based renders on their thermal and mechanical performance, namely cement (three types), fly ash, aerial lime, silica sand, expanded clay, type of aerogel, expanded cork granules, expanded perlite, air entrainers, resins (two types), and rheological agent. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), based on 85 mortar mixes produced in the laboratory and on their values of thermal conductivity and compressive strength obtained using tests in small-scale samples. The results showed that aerial lime assumes the main role in improving the thermal conductivity of the mortars. Aerogel type, fly ash, expanded perlite and air entrainers are also relevant components for a good thermal conductivity. Expanded clay can improve the mechanical behavior and aerogel has the opposite effect.

  19. Parametric Analysis to Study the Influence of Aerogel-Based Renders’ Components on Thermal and Mechanical Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sofia Ximenes

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Statistical models using multiple linear regression are some of the most widely used methods to study the influence of independent variables in a given phenomenon. This study’s objective is to understand the influence of the various components of aerogel-based renders on their thermal and mechanical performance, namely cement (three types, fly ash, aerial lime, silica sand, expanded clay, type of aerogel, expanded cork granules, expanded perlite, air entrainers, resins (two types, and rheological agent. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences, based on 85 mortar mixes produced in the laboratory and on their values of thermal conductivity and compressive strength obtained using tests in small-scale samples. The results showed that aerial lime assumes the main role in improving the thermal conductivity of the mortars. Aerogel type, fly ash, expanded perlite and air entrainers are also relevant components for a good thermal conductivity. Expanded clay can improve the mechanical behavior and aerogel has the opposite effect.

  20. Increased thermal conductivity monolithic zeolite structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klett, James; Klett, Lynn; Kaufman, Jonathan

    2008-11-25

    A monolith comprises a zeolite, a thermally conductive carbon, and a binder. The zeolite is included in the form of beads, pellets, powders and mixtures thereof. The thermally conductive carbon can be carbon nano-fibers, diamond or graphite which provide thermal conductivities in excess of about 100 W/mK to more than 1,000 W/mK. A method of preparing a zeolite monolith includes the steps of mixing a zeolite dispersion in an aqueous colloidal silica binder with a dispersion of carbon nano-fibers in water followed by dehydration and curing of the binder is given.

  1. Radial distribution of the contributions to band broadening of a silica-based semi-preparative monolithic column.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abia, Jude A; Mriziq, Khaled S; Guiochon, Georges A

    2009-04-01

    Using an on-column local electrochemical microdetector operated in the amperometric mode, band elution profiles were recorded at different radial locations at the exit of a 10 mm id, 100 mm long silica-based monolithic column. HETP plots were then acquired at each of these locations, and all these results were fitted to the Knox equation. This provided a spatial distribution of the values of the eddy diffusion (A), the molecular diffusion (B), and the resistance to the kinetics of mass transfer (C) terms. Results obtained indicate that the wall region yields higher A values and smaller C values than the central core region. Significant radial fluctuations of these contributions to band broadening occur throughout the exit column cross-section. This phenomenon is due to the structural radial heterogeneity of the column.

  2. One-pot preparation of a mixed-mode organic-silica hybrid monolithic capillary column and its application in determination of endogenous gibberellins in plant tissues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zheng; Hao, Yan-Hong; Ding, Jun; Xu, Sheng-Nan; Yuan, Bi-Feng; Feng, Yu-Qi

    2015-10-16

    A newly improved one-pot method, based on "thiol-ene" click chemistry and sol-gel approach in microemulsion system, was developed for the preparation of C8/PO(OH)2-silica hybrid monolithic capillary column. The prepared monolith possesses large specific surface area, narrow mesopore size distribution and high column efficiency. The monolithic column was demonstrated to have cation exchange/reversed-phase (CX/RP) mixed-mode retention for analytes on nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC). On the basis of the developed nano-LC system with MS detector coupled to pipette tip solid phase extraction (PT-SPE) and derivatization process, we then realized simultaneous determination of 10 gibberellins (GAs) with low limits of detection (LODs, 0.003-0.025 ng/mL). Furthermore, 6 endogenous GAs in only 5mg rice leaves (fresh weight) were successfully detected and quantified. The developed PT-SPE-nano-LC-MS strategy may offer promising applications in the determination of low abundant bioactive molecules from complex matrix. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(maleic Anhydride)s Cross-linked Polyimide Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Haiquan; Meador, Mary Ann B.

    2015-01-01

    With the development of technology for aerospace applications, new thermal insulation materials are required to be flexible and capable of surviving high heat flux. For instance, flexible insulation is needed for inflatable aerodynamic decelerators which are used to slow spacecraft for entry, descent and landing (EDL) operations. Polyimide aerogels have low density, high porosity, high surface area, and better mechanical properties than silica aerogels and can be made into flexible thin films, thus they are potential candidates for aerospace needs. The previously reported cross-linkers such as octa(aminophenyl)silsesquioxane (OAPS) and 1,3,5-triaminophenoxybenzene (TAB) are either expensive or not commercially available. Here, we report the synthesis of a series of polyimide aerogels cross-linked using various commercially available poly(maleic anhydride)s, as seen in Figure 1. The amine end capped polyimide oligomers were made with 3,3,4,4-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA) and diamine combinations of dimethylbenzidine (DMBZ) and 4, 4-oxydianiline (ODA). The resulting aerogels have low density (0.12 gcm3 to 0.16 gcm3), high porosity (90) and high surface area (380-554 m2g). The effect of the different poly(maleic anhydride) cross-linkers and polyimide backbone structures on density, shrinkage, porosity, surface area, mechanical properties, moisture resistance and thermal properties will be discussed.

  4. Graphene aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauzauskie, Peter J; Worsley, Marcus A; Baumann, Theodore F; Satcher, Jr., Joe H; Biener, Juergen

    2015-03-31

    Graphene aerogels with high conductivity and surface areas including a method for making a graphene aerogel, including the following steps: (1) preparing a reaction mixture comprising a graphene oxide suspension and at least one catalyst; (2) curing the reaction mixture to produce a wet gel; (3) drying the wet gel to produce a dry gel; and (4) pyrolyzing the dry gel to produce a graphene aerogel. Applications include electrical energy storage including batteries and supercapacitors.

  5. Flexible Carbon Aerogels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Schwan

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Carbon aerogels are highly porous materials with a large inner surface area. Due to their high electrical conductivity they are excellent electrode materials in supercapacitors. Their brittleness, however, imposes certain limitations in terms of applicability. In that context, novel carbon aerogels with varying degree of flexibility have been developed. These highly porous, light aerogels are characterized by a high surface area and possess pore structures in the micrometer range, allowing for a reversible deformation of the aerogel network. A high ratio of pore size to particle size was found to be crucial for high flexibility. For dynamic microstructural analysis, compression tests were performed in-situ within a scanning electron microscope allowing us to directly visualize the microstructural flexibility of an aerogel. The flexible carbon aerogels were found to withstand between 15% and 30% of uniaxial compression in a reversible fashion. These findings might stimulate further research and new application fields directed towards flexible supercapacitors and batteries.

  6. Carbon aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berthon-Fabry, S.; Achard, P.

    2003-06-01

    The carbon aerogel is a nano-porous material at open porosity, electrical conductor. The aerogels morphology is variable in function of the different synthesis parameters. This characteristic offers to the aerogels a better adaptability to many applications: electrodes (super condensers, fuel cells). The author presents the materials elaboration and their applications. It provides also the research programs: fundamental research, realization of super-condenser electrodes, fuel cells electrodes, gas storage materials and opaque materials for thermal insulation. (A.L.B.)

  7. Aerogel

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Aerogel, a material not much denser than air on a foggy morning ... between a liquid and a gas, leading to minimum effect on surface ... approached by the French Government to design a method to ... catalysts. • Aerogel dust in grain and seed stocks was found to kill insects by mere ... radiation detectors in nuclear reactors.

  8. Degradation of orange dyes and carbamazepine by soybean peroxidase immobilized on silica monoliths and titanium dioxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calza, Paola; Zacchigna, Dario; Laurenti, Enzo

    2016-12-01

    In this paper, the removal of three common dyes (orange I, orange II, and methylorange) and of the anticonvulsant drug carbamazepine from aqueous solutions by means of enzymatic and photocatalytic treatment was studied. Soybean peroxidase (SBP) was used as biocatalyst, both free in solution and immobilized on silica monoliths, and titanium dioxide as photocatalyst. The combination of the two catalysts led to a faster (about two to four times) removal of all the orange dyes compared to the single systems. All the dyes were completely removed within 2 h, also in the presence of immobilized SBP. As for carbamazepine, photocatalytic treatment prevails on the enzymatic degradation, but the synergistic effect of two catalysts led to a more efficient degradation; carbamazepine's complete disappearance was achieved within 60 min with combined system, while up to 2 h is required with TiO 2 only.

  9. Monolithic silica spin column extraction and simultaneous derivatization of amphetamines and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines in human urine for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamoto, Akihiro; Nishida, Manami; Saito, Takeshi; Kishiyama, Izumi; Miyazaki, Shota; Murakami, Katsunori; Nagao, Masataka; Namura, Akira

    2010-01-01

    A simple, sensitive, and specific method with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for simultaneous extraction and derivatization of amphetamines (APs) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines (MDAs) in human urine by using a monolithic silica spin column. All the procedures, such as sample loading, washing, and elution were performed by centrifugation. APs and MDAs in urine were adsorbed on the monolithic silica and derivatized with propyl chloroformate in the column. Methamphetamine-d 5 was used as an internal standard. The linear ranges were 0.01-5.0 μg mL -1 for methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 0.02-5.0 μg mL -1 for amphetamine (AP) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) (coefficient of correlation ≥0.995). The recovery of APs and MDAs in urine was 84-94%, and the relative standard deviation of the intra- and interday reproducibility for urine samples containing 0.1, 1.0, and 4.0 μg mL -1 of APs and MDAs ranged from 1.4% to 13.6%. The lowest detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio ≥ 3) in urine was 5 ng mL -1 for MA and MDMA and 10 ng mL -1 for AP and MDA. The proposed method can be used to perform simultaneous extraction and derivatization on spin columns that have been loaded with a small quantity of solvent by using centrifugation.

  10. Monolithic silica spin column extraction and simultaneous derivatization of amphetamines and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines in human urine for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakamoto, Akihiro [Scientific Investigation Laboratory, Hiroshima Prefectural Police Headquarters, Kohnan 2-26-3, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730-0825 (Japan); Nishida, Manami [Hiroshima University Technical Center, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551 (Japan); Saito, Takeshi [Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, Shimokasuya 143, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1143 (Japan); Kishiyama, Izumi; Miyazaki, Shota [GL Sciences Inc., Sayamagahara 237-2, Iruma, Saitama 358-0032 (Japan); Murakami, Katsunori [Scientific Investigation Laboratory, Hiroshima Prefectural Police Headquarters, Kohnan 2-26-3, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730-0825 (Japan); Nagao, Masataka [Department of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551 (Japan); Namura, Akira, E-mail: namera@hiroshima-u.ac.jp [Department of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551 (Japan)

    2010-02-19

    A simple, sensitive, and specific method with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for simultaneous extraction and derivatization of amphetamines (APs) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines (MDAs) in human urine by using a monolithic silica spin column. All the procedures, such as sample loading, washing, and elution were performed by centrifugation. APs and MDAs in urine were adsorbed on the monolithic silica and derivatized with propyl chloroformate in the column. Methamphetamine-d{sub 5} was used as an internal standard. The linear ranges were 0.01-5.0 {mu}g mL{sup -1} for methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 0.02-5.0 {mu}g mL{sup -1} for amphetamine (AP) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) (coefficient of correlation {>=}0.995). The recovery of APs and MDAs in urine was 84-94%, and the relative standard deviation of the intra- and interday reproducibility for urine samples containing 0.1, 1.0, and 4.0 {mu}g mL{sup -1} of APs and MDAs ranged from 1.4% to 13.6%. The lowest detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio {>=} 3) in urine was 5 ng mL{sup -1} for MA and MDMA and 10 ng mL{sup -1} for AP and MDA. The proposed method can be used to perform simultaneous extraction and derivatization on spin columns that have been loaded with a small quantity of solvent by using centrifugation.

  11. Monolithic silica spin column extraction and simultaneous derivatization of amphetamines and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines in human urine for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamoto, Akihiro; Nishida, Manami; Saito, Takeshi; Kishiyama, Izumi; Miyazaki, Shota; Murakami, Katsunori; Nagao, Masataka; Namura, Akira

    2010-02-19

    A simple, sensitive, and specific method with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for simultaneous extraction and derivatization of amphetamines (APs) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines (MDAs) in human urine by using a monolithic silica spin column. All the procedures, such as sample loading, washing, and elution were performed by centrifugation. APs and MDAs in urine were adsorbed on the monolithic silica and derivatized with propyl chloroformate in the column. Methamphetamine-d(5) was used as an internal standard. The linear ranges were 0.01-5.0 microg mL(-1) for methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 0.02-5.0 microg mL(-1) for amphetamine (AP) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) (coefficient of correlation > or = 0.995). The recovery of APs and MDAs in urine was 84-94%, and the relative standard deviation of the intra- and interday reproducibility for urine samples containing 0.1, 1.0, and 4.0 microg mL(-1) of APs and MDAs ranged from 1.4% to 13.6%. The lowest detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio > or = 3) in urine was 5 ng mL(-1) for MA and MDMA and 10 ng mL(-1) for AP and MDA. The proposed method can be used to perform simultaneous extraction and derivatization on spin columns that have been loaded with a small quantity of solvent by using centrifugation. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Immobilized enzyme reactor chromatography: Optimization of protein retention and enzyme activity in monolithic silica stationary phases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Besanger, Travis R.; Hodgson, Richard J.; Green, James R.A.; Brennan, John D.

    2006-01-01

    Our group recently reported on the application of protein-doped monolithic silica columns for immobilized enzyme reactor chromatography, which allowed screening of enzyme inhibitors present in mixtures using mass spectrometry for detection. The enzyme was immobilized by entrapment within a bimodal meso/macroporous silica material prepared by a biocompatible sol-gel processing route. While such columns proved to be useful for applications such as screening of protein-ligand interactions, significant amounts of entrapped proteins leached from the columns owing to the high proportion of macropores within the materials. Herein, we describe a detailed study of factors affecting the morphology of protein-doped bioaffinity columns and demonstrate that specific pH values and concentrations of poly(ethylene glycol) can be used to prepare essentially mesoporous columns that retain over 80% of initially loaded enzyme in an active and accessible form and yet still retain sufficient porosity to allow pressure-driven flow in the low μL/min range. Using the enzyme γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), we further evaluated the catalytic constants of the enzyme entrapped in capillary columns with different silica morphologies as a function of flowrate and backpressure using the enzyme reactor assay mode. It was found that the apparent activity of the enzyme was highest in mesoporous columns that retained high levels of enzyme. In such columns, enzyme activity increased by ∼2-fold with increases in both flowrate (from 250 to 1000 nL/min) and backpressure generated (from 500 to 2100 psi) during the chromatographic activity assay owing to increases in k cat and decreases in K M , switching from diffusion controlled to reaction controlled conditions at ca. 2000 psi. These results suggest that columns with minimal macropore volumes (<5%) are advantageous for the entrapment of soluble proteins for bioaffinity and bioreactor chromatography

  13. Technical applications of aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hrubesh, L.W.

    1997-01-01

    Aerogel materials posses such a wide variety of exceptional properties that a striking number of applications have developed for them. Many of the commercial applications of aerogels such as catalysts, thermal insulation, windows, and particle detectors are still under development and new application as have been publicized since the ISA4 Conference in 1994: e.g.; supercapacitors, insulation for heat storage in automobiles, electrodes for capacitive deionization, etc. More applications are evolving as the scientific and engineering community becomes familiar with the unusual and exceptional physical properties of aerogels, there are also scientific and technical application, as well. This paper discusses a variety of applications under development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for which several types of aerogels are formed in custom sizes and shapes. Particular discussions will focus on the uses of aerogels for physics experiments which rely on the exceptional, sometimes unique, properties of aerogels

  14. Carbon Papers and Aerogels Based on Graphene Layers and Chitosan: Direct Preparation from High Surface Area Graphite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbera, Vincenzina; Guerra, Silvia; Brambilla, Luigi; Maggio, Mario; Serafini, Andrea; Conzatti, Lucia; Vitale, Alessandra; Galimberti, Maurizio

    2017-12-11

    In this work, carbon papers and aerogels based on graphene layers and chitosan were prepared. They were obtained by mixing chitosan (CS) and a high surface area nanosized graphite (HSAG) in water in the presence of acetic acid. HSAG/CS water dispersions were stable for months. High resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of few graphene layers in water suspensions. Casting or lyophilization of such suspensions led to the preparation of carbon paper and aerogel, respectively. In X-ray spectra of both aerogels and carbon paper, peaks due to regular stacks of graphene layers were not detected: graphene with unaltered sp 2 structure was obtained directly from graphite without the use of any chemical reaction. The composites were demonstrated to be electrically conductive thanks to the graphene. Chitosan thus makes it possible to obtain monolithic carbon aerogels and flexible and free-standing graphene papers directly from a nanosized graphite by avoiding oxidation to graphite oxide and successive reduction. Strong interaction between polycationic chitosan and the aromatic substrate appears to be at the origin of the stability of HSAG/CS adducts. Cation-π interaction is hypothesized, also on the basis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy findings. This work paves the way for the easy large-scale preparation of carbon papers through a method that has a low environmental impact and is based on a biosourced polymer, graphene, and water.

  15. Nano-Doped Monolithic Materials for Molecular Separation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caleb Acquah

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Monoliths are continuous adsorbents that can easily be synthesised to possess tuneable meso-/macropores, convective fluid transport, and a plethora of chemistries for ligand immobilisation. They are grouped into three main classes: organic, inorganic, and hybrid, based on their chemical composition. These classes may also be differentiated by their unique morphological and physicochemical properties which are significantly relevant to their specific separation applications. The potential applications of monoliths for molecular separation have created the need to enhance their characteristic properties including mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical and thermal stability. An effective approach towards monolith enhancement has been the doping and/or hybridization with miniaturized molecular species of desirable functionalities and characteristics. Nanoparticles are usually preferred as dopants due to their high solid phase dispersion features which are associated with improved intermolecular adsorptive interactions. Examples of such nanomaterials include, but are not limited to, carbon-based, silica-based, gold-based, and alumina nanoparticles. The incorporation of these nanoparticles into monoliths via in situ polymerisation and/or post-modification enhances surface adsorption for activation and ligand immobilisation. Herein, insights into the performance enhancement of monoliths as chromatographic supports by nanoparticles doping are presented. In addition, the potential and characteristics of less common nanoparticle materials such as hydroxyapatite, ceria, hafnia, and germania are discussed. The advantages and challenges of nanoparticle doping of monoliths are also discussed.

  16. Mesoporous fluorocarbon-modified silica aerogel membranes enabling long-term continuous CO2 capture with large absorption flux enhancements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yi-Feng; Chen, Chien-Hua; Tung, Kuo-Lun; Wei, Te-Yu; Lu, Shih-Yuan; Chang, Kai-Shiun

    2013-03-01

    The use of a membrane contactor combined with a hydrophobic porous membrane and an amine absorbent has attracted considerable attention for the capture of CO2 because of its extensive use, low operational costs, and low energy consumption. The hydrophobic porous membrane interface prevents the passage of the amine absorbent but allows the penetration of CO2 molecules that are captured by the amine absorbent. Herein, highly porous SiO2 aerogels modified with hydrophobic fluorocarbon functional groups (CF3 ) were successfully coated onto a macroporous Al2 O3 membrane; their performance in a membrane contactor for CO2 absorption is discussed. The SiO2 aerogel membrane modified with CF3 functional groups exhibits the highest CO2 absorption flux and can be continuously operated for CO2 absorption for extended periods of time. This study suggests that a SiO2 aerogel membrane modified with CF3 functional groups could potentially be used in a membrane contactor for CO2 absorption. Also, the resulting hydrophobic SiO2 aerogel membrane contactor is a promising technology for large-scale CO2 absorption during the post-combustion process in power plants. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Experimental and numerical validation of the effective medium theory for the B-term band broadening in 1st and 2nd generation monolithic silica columns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deridder, Sander; Vanmessen, Alison; Nakanishi, Kazuki; Desmet, Gert; Cabooter, Deirdre

    2014-07-18

    Effective medium theory (EMT) expressions for the B-term band broadening in monolithic silica columns are presented at the whole-column as well as at the mesoporous skeleton level. Given the bi-continuous nature of the monolithic medium, regular as well as inverse formulations of the EMT-expressions have been established. The established expressions were validated by applying them to a set of experimental effective diffusion (Deff)-data obtained via peak parking on a number of 1st and 2nd generation monolithic silica columns, as well as to a set of numerical diffusion simulations in a simplified monolithic column representation (tetrahedral skeleton model) with different external porosities and internal diffusion coefficients. The numerically simulated diffusion data can be very closely represented over a very broad range of zone retention factors (up to k″=80) using the established EMT-expressions, especially when using the inverse variant. The expressions also allow representing the experimentally measured effective diffusion data very closely. The measured Deff/Dmol-values were found to decrease significantly with increasing retention factor, in general going from about Deff/Dmol=0.55 to 0.65 at low k″ (k″≅1.5-3.8) to Deff/Dmol=0.25 at very high k″ (k″≅40-80). These values are significantly larger than observed in fully-porous and core-shell particles. The intra-skeleton diffusion coefficient (Dpz) was typically found to be of the order of Dpz/Dmol=0.4, compared to Dpz/Dmol=0.2-0.35 observed in most particle-based columns. These higher Dpz/Dmol values are the cause of the higher Deff/Dmol values observed. In addition, it also appears that the higher internal diffusion is linked to the higher porosity of the mesoporous skeleton that has a relatively open structure with relatively wide pores. The observed (weak) relation between Dpz/Dmol and the zone retention factor appears to be in good agreement with that predicted when applying the regular

  18. Cherenkov rings from aerogel detected by four large-area hybrid photodiodes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Braem, A.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Calvi, M.; Chesi, E.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Easo, S.; Jolly, S.; Joram, C.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Liko, D.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Negri, P.; Neufeld, N.; Onuchin, A.P.; Seguinot, J.; Wotton, S.

    2003-01-01

    We report on the results obtained using thick samples of silica aerogel as radiators for a Ring Imaging Cherenkov counter. Four large-diameter hybrid photodiodes with 2048 channels have been used as photon detectors. Pions and protons with momenta ranging from 6 to 10 GeV/c were separated and identified. The number of photoelectrons and the radius of the Cherenkov rings together with the Cherenkov angle resolution were measured. A comparison with a simulation program based on GEANT4 is discussed

  19. A hybrid concept (segmented plus monolithic fused silica shells) for a high-throughput and high-angular resolution x-ray mission (Lynx/X-Ray Surveyor like)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basso, Stefano; Civitani, Marta; Pareschi, Giovanni; Parodi, Giancarlo

    2017-09-01

    Lynx is a large area and high angular resolution X-ray mission being studied by NASA to be presented to the next Decadal Survey for the implementation in the next decade. It aims to realize an X-ray telescope with the effective area similar to Athena (2 m2 at 1 keV) but with the same angular resolution of Chandra and a much larger Field Of View (up 20 arcmin x 20 arcmin). The science of X-ray Surveyor requires a large-throughput mirror assembly with sub-arcsec angular resolution. These future X-ray mirrors have a set of requirements which, collectively, represents very substantial advances over any currently in operation or planned for missions other than X-ray Surveyor. Of particular importance is achieving low mass per unit collecting area, while maintaining Chandra like angular resolution. Among the possible solutions under study, the direct polishing of both thin monolithic pseudo-cylindrical shells and segments made of fused silica are being considered as viable solutions for the implementation of the mirrors. Fused silica has very good thermomechanical parameters (including a very low CTE), making the material particularly well suited for for the production of the Lynx mirrors. It should be noted that the use of close shells is also very attractive, since the operations for the integration of the shells will be greatly simplified and the area lost due to the vignetting from the interfacing structures minimized even if the management of such big (diameter of 3 m) and thin shells have to be demonstrated. In this paper we will discuss a possible basic layout for a full shell mirror and a hybrid concept (segmented plus monolithic shells made of fused silica) as a second solution, for the Lynx/XRS telescope, discussing preliminary results in terms of optical and mechanical performance.

  20. Impact Verification of Aerogel Insulation Paint on Historic Brick Facades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganobjak, Michal; Kralova, Eva

    2017-10-01

    Increasing the sustainability of existing buildings is being motivated by reduction of their energy demands. It is the above all the building envelope and its refurbishment by substitution or addition of new materials that makes the opportunity for reduction of energy consumption. A special type of refurbishment is conservation of historical buildings. Preservation of historic buildings permits also application of innovative methods and materials in addition to the original materials if their effects are known and the gained experience ensures their beneficial effect. On the market, there are new materials with addition of silica aerogel in various forms of products. They are also potentially useful in conservation of monuments. However, the effects of aerogel application in these cases are not known. For refurbishment is commercially available additional transparent insulation paint - Nansulate Clear Coat which is containing aerogel and can be used for structured surfaces such as bricks. A series of experiments examined the thermo-physical manifestation of an ultra-thin insulation coating of Nansulate Clear Coat containing silica aerogel on a brick facade. The experiments of active and passive thermography have observed effects of application on the small-scale samples of the brick façade of a protected historical building. Through a series of experiments were measured thermal insulation effect and influence on the aesthetic characteristics such as change in colour and gloss. The treated samples were compared to a reference. Results have shown no thermal-insulating manifestation of the recommended three layers of insulation paint. The three layers recommended by the manufacturer did not significantly affect the appearance of the brick facade. Color and gloss were not significantly changed. Experiments showed the absence of thermal insulation effect of Nansulate transparent triple coating. The thermal insulation effect could likely be reached by more layers of

  1. Rapid determination of amino acids in biological samples using a monolithic silica column.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yanting; Funatsu, Takashi; Tsunoda, Makoto

    2012-05-01

    A high-performance liquid chromatography method in which fluorescence detection is used for the simultaneous determination of 21 amino acids is proposed. Amino acids were derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) and then separated on a monolithic silica column (MonoClad C18-HS, 150 mm×3 mm i.d.). A mixture of 25 mM citrate buffer containing 25 mM sodium perchlorate (pH 5.5) and acetonitrile was used as the mobile phase. We found that the most significant factor in the separation was temperature, and a linear temperature gradient from 30 to 49°C was used to control the column temperature. The limits of detection and quantification for all amino acids ranged from 3.2 to 57.2 fmol and 10.8 to 191 fmol, respectively. The calibration curves for the NBD-amino acid had good linearity within the range of 40 fmol to 40 pmol when 6-aminocaproic acid was used as an internal standard. Using only conventional instruments, the 21 amino acids could be analyzed within 10 min. This method was found to be suitable for the quantification of the contents of amino acids in mouse plasma and adrenal gland samples.

  2. Supercritical carbon dioxide behavior in porous silica aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ciccariello, Salvino; Melnichenko, Yuri B.; He, Lilin

    2011-01-01

    Analysis of the tails of the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) intensities relevant to samples formed by porous silica and carbon dioxide at pressures ranging from 0 to 20 MPa and at temperatures of 308 and 353 K confirms that the CO2 fluid must be treated as a two-phase system. The first of these phases is formed by the fluid closer to the silica wall than a suitable distance (delta) and the second by the fluid external to this shell. The sample scattering-length densities and shell thicknesses are determined by the Porod invariants and the oscillations observed in the Porod plots of the SANS intensities. The resulting matter densities of the shell regions (thickness 15-35 (angstrom)) are approximately equal, while those of the outer regions increase with pressure and become equal to the bulk CO2 at the higher pressures only in the low-temperature case.

  3. Melamine-formaldehyde aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pekala, Richard Walter

    1992-01-01

    Organic aerogels that are transparent and essentially colorless are prepa from the aqueous, sol-gel polymerization of melamine with formaldehyde. The melamine-formaldehyde (MF) aerogels have low densities, high surface areas, continuous porsity, ultrafine cell/pore sizes, and optical clarity.

  4. Comparison of monolithic silica and polymethacrylate capillary columns for LC

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Moravcová, D.; Jandera, P.; Urban, J.; Planeta, Josef

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 27, 10-11 (2004), s. 789-800 ISSN 1615-9306 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA203/02/0023 Keywords : monolithic column s * capillary HPLC * column testing Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation Impact factor: 1.927, year: 2004

  5. Comprehensive profiling of ribonucleosides modification by affinity zirconium oxide-silica composite monolithic column online solid-phase microextraction - Mass spectrometry analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Han-Peng; Chu, Jie-Mei; Lan, Meng-Dan; Liu, Ping; Yang, Na; Zheng, Fang; Yuan, Bi-Feng; Feng, Yu-Qi

    2016-09-02

    More than 140 modified ribonucleosides have been identified in RNA. Determination of endogenous modified ribonucleosides in biological fluids may serve as non-invasive disease diagnostic strategy. However, detection of the modified ribonucleosides in biological fluids is challenging, especially for the low abundant modified ribonucleosides due to the serious matrix interferences of biological fluids. Here, we developed a facile preparation strategy and successfully synthesized zirconium oxide-silica (ZrO2/SiO2) composite capillary monolithic column that exhibited excellent performance for the selective enrichment of cis-diol-containing compounds. Compared with the boronate-based affinity monolith, the ZrO2/SiO2 monolith showed ∼2 orders of magnitude higher extraction capacity and can be used under physiological pH (pH 6.5-7.5). Using the prepared ZrO2/SiO2 composite monolith as the trapping column and reversed-phase C18 column as the analytical column, we further established an online solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (online SPME-LC-MS/MS) analysis for the comprehensive profiling of ribonucleosides modification in human urine. Our results showed that 68 cis-diol-containing ribosylated compounds were identified in human urine, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest numbers of cis-diol-containing compounds were determined in a single analysis. It is worth noting that four modified ribonucleosides were discovered in the human urine for the first time. In addition, the quantification results from the pooled urine samples showed that compared to healthy controls, the contents of sixteen ribose conjugates in the urine of gastric cancer, eleven in esophagus cancer and seven in lymphoma increased more than two folds. Among these ribose conjugates, four ribose conjugates increased more than two folds in both gastric cancer and esophagus cancer; three ribose conjugates increased more than two

  6. Sorption Properties of Aerogel in Liquid Nitrogen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Wesley L.

    2006-01-01

    Aerogel products are now available as insulation materials of the future. The Cryogenics Test Laboratory at the NASA Kennedy Space Center is developing aerogel-based thermal insulation systems for space launch applications. Aerogel beads (Cabot Nanogel ) and aerogel blankets (Aspen Aerogels Spaceloft ) have outstanding ambient pressure thermal performance that makes them useful for applications where sealing is not possible. Aerogel beads are open-celled silicone dioxide and have tiny pores that run throughout the body of the bead. It has also recently been discovered that aerogel beads can be used as a filtering device for aqueous compounds at room temperature. With their hydrophobic covering, the beads absorb any non-polar substance and they can be chemically altered to absorb hot gases. The combination of the absorption and cryogenic insulating properties of aerogel beads have never been studied together. For future cryogenic insulation applications, it is crucial to know how the beads react while immersed in cryogenic liquids, most notably liquid nitrogen. Aerogel beads in loose-fill situation and aerogel blankets with composite fiber structure have been tested for absorption properties. Depending on the type of aerogel used and the preparation, preliminary results show the material can absorb up to seven times its own weight of liquid nitrogen, corresponding to a volumetric ratio of 0.70 (unit volume nitrogen per unit volume aerogel). These tests allow for an estimate on how much insulation is needed in certain situations. The theory behind the different processes of sorption is necessary for a better understanding of the preparation of the beads before they are used in an insulation system.

  7. Co-Fe-Si Aerogel Catalytic Honeycombs for Low Temperature Ethanol Steam Reforming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Montserrat Domínguez

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Cobalt talc doped with iron (Fe/Co~0.1 and dispersed in SiO2 aerogel was prepared from silica alcogel impregnated with metal nitrates by supercritical drying. Catalytic honeycombs were prepared following the same procedure, with the alcogel synthesized directly over cordierite honeycomb pieces. The composite aerogel catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, focus ion beam, specific surface area and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The catalytic layer is about 8 µm thick and adheres well to the cordierite support. It is constituted of talc layers of about 1.5 µm × 300 nm × 50 nm which are well dispersed and anchored in a SiO2 aerogel matrix with excellent mass-transfer properties. The catalyst was tested in the ethanol steam reforming reaction, aimed at producing hydrogen for on-board, on-demand applications at moderate temperature (573–673 K and pressure (1–7 bar. Compared to non-promoted cobalt talc, the catalyst doped with iron produces less methane as byproduct, which can only be reformed at high temperature, thereby resulting in higher hydrogen yields. At 673 K and 2 bar, 1.04 NLH2·mLEtOH(l−1·min−1 are obtained at S/C = 3 and W/F = 390 g·min·molEtOH−1.

  8. Development and evaluation of aerogel-filled BMI sandwich panels for thermal barrier applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Dineshkumar

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This study details a fabrication methodology envisaged to manufacture Glass/BMI honeycomb core aerogel-filled sandwich panels. Silica aerogel granules are used as core fillers to provide thermal insulation properties with little weight increase. Experimental heat transfer studies are conducted on these panels to study the temperature distribution between their two surfaces. Numerical studies are also carried out to validate the results. Despite exhibiting good thermal shielding capabilities, the Glass/BMI sandwich panels are found to oxidise at 180 ºC if exposed directly to heat. In order to increase the temperature bearing capacity and the operating temperature range for these panels, a way of coating them from outside with high temperature spray paint was tried. With a silicone-based coating, the temperature sustainability of these sandwich panels is found to increase to 350 ºC. This proved the effectiveness of the formed manufacturing process, selected high temperature coating, the coating method as well as the envisaged sandwich panel concept.

  9. Highly stretchable carbon aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Fan; Jiang, Yanqiu; Xu, Zhen; Xiao, Youhua; Fang, Bo; Liu, Yingjun; Gao, Weiwei; Zhao, Pei; Wang, Hongtao; Gao, Chao

    2018-02-28

    Carbon aerogels demonstrate wide applications for their ultralow density, rich porosity, and multifunctionalities. Their compressive elasticity has been achieved by different carbons. However, reversibly high stretchability of neat carbon aerogels is still a great challenge owing to their extremely dilute brittle interconnections and poorly ductile cells. Here we report highly stretchable neat carbon aerogels with a retractable 200% elongation through hierarchical synergistic assembly. The hierarchical buckled structures and synergistic reinforcement between graphene and carbon nanotubes enable a temperature-invariable, recoverable stretching elasticity with small energy dissipation (~0.1, 100% strain) and high fatigue resistance more than 10 6 cycles. The ultralight carbon aerogels with both stretchability and compressibility were designed as strain sensors for logic identification of sophisticated shape conversions. Our methodology paves the way to highly stretchable carbon and neat inorganic materials with extensive applications in aerospace, smart robots, and wearable devices.

  10. Synthesis and characterization of a nanocrystalline diamond aerogel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pauzauskie, Peter J.; Crowhurst, Jonathan C.; Worsley, Marcus A.; Laurence, Ted A.; Kilcoyne, A. L. David; Wang, Yinmin; Willey, Trevor M.; Visbeck, Kenneth S.; Fakra, Sirine C.; Evans, William J.; Zaug, Joseph M.; Satcher, Jr., Joe H.

    2011-07-06

    Aerogel materials have myriad scientific and technological applications due to their large intrinsic surface areas and ultralow densities. However, creating a nanodiamond aerogel matrix has remained an outstanding and intriguing challenge. Here we report the high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis of a diamond aerogel from an amorphous carbon aerogel precursor using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Neon is used as a chemically inert, near-hydrostatic pressure medium that prevents collapse of the aerogel under pressure by conformally filling the aerogel's void volume. Electron and X-ray spectromicroscopy confirm the aerogel morphology and composition of the nanodiamond matrix. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements of recovered material reveal the formation of both nitrogen- and silicon- vacancy point-defects, suggesting a broad range of applications for this nanocrystalline diamond aerogel.

  11. Aerogel-Based Multilayer Insulation with Micrometeoroid Protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Begag, Redouane; White, Shannon

    2013-01-01

    Ultra-low-density, highly hydrophobic, fiber-reinforced aerogel material integrated with MLI (aluminized Mylar reflectors and B4A Dacron separators) offers a highly effective insulation package by providing unsurpassed thermal performance and significant robustness, delivering substantial MMOD protection via the addition of a novel, durable, external aerogel layer. The hydrophobic nature of the aerogel is an important property for maintaining thermal performance if the material is exposed to the environment (i.e. rain, snow, etc.) during ground installations. The hybrid aerogel/MLI/MMOD solution affords an attractive alternative because it will perform thermally in the same range as MLI at all vacuum levels (including high vacuum), and offers significant protection from micrometeoroid damage. During this effort, the required low-density and resilient aerogel materials have been developed that are needed to optimize the thermal performance for space (high vacuum) cryotank applications. The proposed insulation/MMOD package is composed of two sections: a stack of interleaved aerogel layers and MLI intended for cryotank thermal insulation, and a 1.5- to 1-in. (.2.5- to 3.8- cm) thick aerogel layer (on top of the insulation portion) for MMOD protection. Learning that low-density aerogel cannot withstand the hypervelocity impact test conditions, the innovators decided during the course of the program to fabricate a high-density and strong material based on a cross-linked aerogel (X-aerogel; developed elsewhere by the innovators) for MMOD protection. This system has shown a very high compressive strength that is capable of withstanding high-impact tests if a proper configuration of the MMOD aerogel layer is used. It was learned that by stacking two X-aerogel layers [1.5-in. (.3.8-cm) thick] separated by an air gap, the system would be able to hold the threat at a speed of 5 km/s and gpass h the test. The first aerogel panel stopped the projectile from damaging the second

  12. Coated Aerogel Beads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Littman, Howard (Inventor); Plawsky, Joel L. (Inventor); Paccione, John D. (Inventor)

    2014-01-01

    Methods and apparatus for coating particulate material are provided. The apparatus includes a vessel having a top and a bottom, a vertically extending conduit having an inlet in the vessel and an outlet outside of the vessel, a first fluid inlet in the bottom of the vessel for introducing a transfer fluid, a second fluid inlet in the bottom of the vessel for introducing a coating fluid, and a fluid outlet from the vessel. The method includes steps of agitating a material, contacting the material with a coating material, and drying the coating material to produce a coated material. The invention may be adapted to coat aerogel beads, among other materials. A coated aerogel bead and an aerogel-based insulation material are also disclosed.

  13. Fluorescent silica hybrid materials containing benzimidazole dyes obtained by sol-gel method and high pressure processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoffmann, Helena Sofia; Stefani, Valter; Benvenutti, Edilson Valmir; Costa, Tania Maria Haas; Gallas, Marcia Russman

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Sol-gel technique was used to obtain silica based hybrid materials containing benzimidazole dyes. → The sol-gel catalysts, HF and NaF, produce xerogels with different optical and textural characteristics. → High pressure technique (6.0 GPa) was used to produce fluorescent and transparent silica compacts with the dyes entrapped in closed pores, maintaining their optical properties. → The excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism of benzimidazole dyes was studied by steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy for the monoliths, powders, and compacts. - Abstract: New silica hybrid materials were obtained by incorporation of two benzimidazole dyes in the silica network by sol-gel technique, using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as inorganic precursor. Several syntheses were performed with two catalysts (HF and NaF) producing powders and monoliths with different characteristics. The dye 2-(2'-hydroxy-5'-aminophenyl)benzimidazole was dispersed and physically adsorbed in the matrix, and the dye 2'(5'-N-(3-triethoxysilyl)propylurea-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole was silylated, becoming chemically bonded to the silica network. High pressure technique was used to produce fluorescent and transparent silica compacts with the silylated and incorporated dye, at 6.0 GPa and room temperature. The excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism of benzimidazole dyes was studied by steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy for the monoliths, powders, and compacts. The influence of the syntheses conditions was investigated by textural analysis using nitrogen adsorption isotherms.

  14. Development of high-throughput analysis system using highly-functional organic polymer monoliths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umemura, Tomonari; Kojima, Norihisa; Ueki, Yuji

    2008-01-01

    The growing demand for high-throughput analysis in the current competitive life sciences and industries has promoted the development of high-speed HPLC techniques and tools. As one of such tools, monolithic columns have attracted increasing attention and interest in the last decade due to the low flow-resistance and excellent mass transfer, allowing for rapid separations and reactions at high flow rates with minimal loss of column efficiency. Monolithic materials are classified into two main groups: silica- and organic polymer-based monoliths, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Organic polymer monoliths have several distinct advantages in life-science research, including wide pH stability, less irreversible adsorption, facile preparation and modification. Thus, we have so far tried to develop organic polymer monoliths for various chemical operations, such as separation, extraction, preconcentration, and reaction. In the present paper, recent progress in the development of organic polymer monoliths is discussed. Especially, the procedure for the preparation of methacrylate-based monoliths with various functional groups is described, where the influence of different compositional and processing parameters on the monolithic structure is also addressed. Furthermore, the performance of the produced monoliths is demonstrated through the results for (1) rapid separations of alklybenzenes at high flow rates, (2) flow-through enzymatic digestion of cytochrome c on a trypsin-immobilized monolithic column, and (3) separation of the tryptic digest on a reversed-phase monolithic column. The flexibility and versatility of organic polymer monoliths will be beneficial for further enhancing analytical performance, and will open the way for new applications and opportunities both in scientific and industrial research. (author)

  15. Affinity monolith chromatography: A review of principles and recent analytical applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfaunmiller, Erika L.; Paulemond, Marie Laura; Dupper, Courtney M.; Hage, David S.

    2012-01-01

    Affinity monolith chromatography (AMC) is a type of liquid chromatography that uses a monolithic support and a biologically-related binding agent as a stationary phase. AMC is a powerful method for the selective separation, analysis or studies of specific target compounds in a sample. This review discusses the basic principles of AMC and recent developments or applications of this method, with particular emphasis being given to work that has appeared in the last five years. Various materials that have been used to prepare columns for AMC are examined, including organic monoliths, silica monoliths, agarose monoliths and cryogels. These supports have been used in AMC for formats that have ranged from traditional columns to disks, microcolumns and capillaries. Many binding agents have also been employed in AMC, such as antibodies, enzymes, proteins, lectins, immobilized metal-ions and dyes. Some applications that have been reported with these binding agents in AMC are bioaffinity chromatography, immunoaffinity chromatography or immunoextraction, immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography, dye-ligand affinity chromatography, chiral separations and biointeraction studies. Examples are presented from fields that include analytical chemistry, pharmaceutical analysis, clinical testing and biotechnology. Current trends and possible future directions in AMC are also discussed. PMID:23187827

  16. Aerogel Cerenkov counters at DESY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poelz, G.

    1984-11-01

    In high energy physics it is common to identify a charged particle and its kinematical parameters by the measurement of its momentum and its velocity. Cerenkov detectors have developed into a standard tool because they operate in the γ = (1-β 2 )sup(-1/2) range from about 1 to 100 which is not easily accessible by other devices. Pions, kaons and protons in present high energy experiments reach energies of several GeV. Threshold Cerenkov detectors for these particles need indices of refraction below 1.1 which are often produced with gases under high pressure. The design for chambers operating in this region was drasticly simplified when porous materials serving as Cerenkov radiators were invented. These chambers complement the time-of-flight counters, which cover the low energy region. Aerogel of silica is up to now the only porous substance with sufficient optical transparency. Its quality has been improved substantially in recent times so that large size detectors can be constructed. (orig.)

  17. Silver-Loaded Aluminosilicate Aerogels As Iodine Sorbents

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riley, Brian J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Kroll, Jared O. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Peterson, Jacob A. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Matyáš, Josef [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Olszta, Matthew J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Li, Xiaohong [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States; Vienna, John D. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States

    2017-09-14

    This paper discusses the development of aluminosilicates aerogels as scaffolds for Ag0 nanoparticles used for chemisorption of I2(g). The starting materials for these scaffolds included both Na-Al-Si-O and Al-Si-O aerogels, both synthesized from metal alkoxides. The Ag0 particles are added by soaking the aerogels in AgNO3 followed by drying and flowing under H2/Ar to reduce Ag+ → Ag0. In some cases, samples were soaked in 3-(mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane under supercritical CO2 to add –SH tethers to the aerogel surfaces for more effective binding of Ag+. During the Ag+-impregnation steps, for the Na-Al-Si-O aerogels, Na was replaced with Ag, and for the Al-Si-O aerogel, Si was replaced with Ag. The Ag-loading of thiolated versus non-thiolated Na-Al-Si-O aerogels was comparable at ~35 at% whereas the Ag-loading in unthiolated Al-Si-O aerogels was significantly lower at ~ 7 at% after identical treatment. Iodine loadings in both thiolated and unthiolated Ag0-functionalized Na-Al-Si-O aerogels were > 0.5 g g-1 showing almost complete utilization of the Ag through chemisorption to form AgI. Iodine loading in the thiolated Al-Si-O aerogel was 0.31 g g-1. The control of Ag uptake over solution residence time and [AgNO3] demonstrates the ability to customize the Ag-loading in the base sorbent to regulate the capacity of iodine chemisorption. Consolidation experimental results are also presented.

  18. Preparation and characterization of phloroglucinol-formaldehyde aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Changgang; China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang; Tang Yongjian; Wang Chaoyang; Yan Hongmei

    2006-01-01

    Phloroglucinol-formaldehyde (PF) aerogels and carbonized PF (CPF) aerogels were prepared from Phloroglucinol (P) and Formaldehyde (F) by sol-gel, solvent exchanging, supercritical drying and carbonization processes. The aerogel has a large specific surface area, continuous nano-network and porous structure. The density and mean porosity radius will enlarge after being carbonized, while the specific surface area will be influenced little. The micro-structure and density of aerogel are controlled by concentration of total reactants and catalyzer, respectively. Aerogels with different micro-structure and different density fit for ICF targets can be prepared by optimizing synthesis conditions. (authors)

  19. Recent results on prototype aerogel threshold counters for particle identification in the region: 0.5 6 4.3 GeV / c

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arisaka, K.; Borsato, E.; DalCorso, F.; Iacovella, F.; Morandin, M.; Posocco, M.; Stroili, R.; Torassa, DE.; Voci, C.; Boutigny, D.; Bonis, I. de; Favier, J.; Karyotakis, Y.; Lafaye, R.; Ferroni, F.; Mazzoni, M.A.; Morganti, S.; Piredda, G.; Santacesaria, R.; Oyang, J.

    1996-01-01

    The recent development of new processes has lead to the fabrication of small density silica aerogel with high optical quality. The BaBar experiment, in order to achieve its physics program, requires a good pion kaon identification capability up to 4.3 GeV/c able to work inside a 1.5 Tesla magnetic field. An aerogel threshold counter using thee combination of 2 refractive indices (1.055 and 1.007) can be used to complete the angular coverage of the particle identification system in the forward region. Different detector geometries read out by two photo-detectors types (fine mesh phototubes and Hybrid Photo-Diodes) have been considered and tested in CERN beam test. (author)

  20. Construction of an ultra low temperature cryostat and transverse acoustic spectroscopy in superfluid helium-3 in compressed aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhupathi, Pradeep

    An ultra low temperature cryostat is designed and implemented in this work to perform experiments at sub-millikelvin temperatures, specifically aimed at understanding the superfluid phases of 3He in various scenarios. The cryostat is a combination of a dilution refrigerator (Oxford Kelvinox 400) with a base temperature of 5.2 mK and a 48 mole copper block as the adiabatic nuclear demagnetization stage with a lowest temperature of ≈ 200 muK. With the various techniques implemented for limiting the ambient heat leak to the cryostat, we were able to stay below 1 mK for longer than 5 weeks. The details of design, construction and performance of the cryostat are presented. We measured high frequency shear acoustic impedance in superfluid 3He in 98% porosity aerogel at pressures of 29 bar and 32 bar in magnetic fields upto 3 kG with the aerogel cylinder compressed along the symmetry axis to generate global anisotropy. With 5% compression, there is an indication of a supercooled A-like to B-like transition in aerogel in a wider temperature width than the A phase in the bulk, while at 10% axial compression, the A-like to B-like transition is absent on cooling down to ≈ 300 muK in zero magnetic field and in magnetic fields up to 3 kG. This behavior is in contrast to that in 3He in uncompressed aerogels, in which the supercooled A-like to B-like transitions have been identified by various experimental techniques. Our result is consistent with theoretical predictions. To characterize the anisotropy in compressed aerogels, optical birefringence is measured in 98% porosity silica aerogel samples subjected to various degrees of uniaxial compression up to 15% strain, with wavelengths between 200 to 800 nm. Uncompressed aerogels exhibit no or a minimal degree of birefringence, indicating the isotropic nature of the material over the length scale of the wavelength. Uniaxial compression of aerogel introduces global anisotropy, which produces birefringence in the material. We

  1. Hydrogen storage property of nanoporous carbon aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen Jun; Liu Nianping; Ouyang Ling; Zhou Bin; Wu Guangming; Ni Xingyuan; Zhang Zhihua

    2011-01-01

    Carbon aerogels were prepared from resorcinol and formaldehyde via sol-gel process, high temperature carbonization and atmospheric pressure drying technology with solvent replacement. By changing the resorcinol-sodium carbonate molar ratio and the mass fraction of the reactants,resorcinol and formaldehyde, the pore structure of carbon aerogels can be controlled and the palladium-doped carbon aerogels were prepared.By transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, it is confirmed that the Pd exists in the skeleton structure of carbon aerogels as a form of nano simple substance pellet. The specific surface area is successfully raised by 2 times, and palladium-doped carbon aerogels with a specific surface area of 1 273 m 2 /g have been obtained by carrying out the activation process as the post-processing to the doped carbon aerogels. The hydrogen adsorption results show that the saturated hydrogen storage mass fraction of the carbon aerogels with the specific surface area of 3 212 m 2 /g is 3% in the condition of 92 K, 3.5 MPa, and 0.84% in the condition of 303 K, 3.2 MPa. In addition, the hydrogen adsorption test of palladium-doped carbon aerogels at room temperature (303 K) shows that the total hydrogen storage capacity of doped carbon aerogels is declined due to the relative small specific surface, but the hydrogen storage of unit specific surface area is enhanced. (authors)

  2. Development of aerogel Cherenkov counters at Novosibirsk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnyakov, A.Yu.; Barnyakov, M.Yu.; Baehr, J.; Bellunato, T.; Beloborodov, K.I.; Bobrovnikov, V.S.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Calvi, M.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Djordjadze, V.; Golubev, V.B.; Kononov, S.A.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Lipka, D.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Onuchin, A.P.; Perego, D.; Rodiakin, V.A.; Savinov, G.A.; Serednyakov, S.I.; Shamov, A.G.; Stephan, F.; Tayursky, V.A.; Vorobiov, A.I.

    2006-01-01

    The work on aerogel Cherenkov counters was started in Novosibirsk in 1986. Production of aerogels with refractive indices of 1.006-1.13 and thicknesses of blocks up to 50mm was developed. The light absorption length at 400nm is 5-7m, the scattering length is 4-5cm. By these parameters, the Novosibirsk aerogel is one of the best in the world. The ASHIPH Cherenkov counters with light collection on wavelength shifters have been developed. The ASHIPH system of the KEDR detector contains 1000l of aerogel. The π/K separation is 4.5σ. A project of ASHIPH counters for the SND detector has been developed. Aerogel RICH for LHCb gives a possibility to identify hadrons in the momentum range of 2-10GeV/c. The Novosibirsk group is developing an aerogel RICH for the endcap for the SuperBaBar project. Calculations performed by a group of physicists from Novosibirsk and DESY-Zeuthen have shown that aerogel radiators enable to achieve time resolution up to 20fs

  3. Structural and optical studies of nano-structure silica gel doped with different rare earth elements, prepared by two different sol -gel techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battisha, I.K.; El Beyally, A.; Seliman, S.I.; El Nahrawi, A.S.

    2005-01-01

    Structural and optical characteristics of pure silica gel (silica-xerogel, SiO 2 ) and doped with different concentrations ranging from 1 up to 6% of some rare earth (REEs) ions such as, praseodymium Pr +3 ,and Europium Eu +3 , Erbium Er +3 and Holmium Ho +3 , ions, in the form of thin film and monolith materials were prepared by sol - gel technique, Using tetra-ethoxysilane as precursor materials, which are of particular interest for sol-gel integrated optics applications. Some structural and optical features of sol-gel derived monolith and thin films are analyzed and compared, namely the structure of nano-particle monolith and thin film silica-gel samples, based on X-ray diffraction (XRD). The types of structural information obtainable are compared in detail. It is show that the XRD spectra of a-cristobalite are obtained for the two type materials and even by doping with the four REEs ions. Optical measurements of monolith and thin films were also studied and compared, the normal transmission and specular reflection were measured. The refractive index were calculated and discussed

  4. Aerogel / Polymer Composite Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Martha K. (Inventor); Smith, Trent M. (Inventor); Fesmire, James E. (Inventor); Roberson, Luke B. (Inventor); Clayton, LaNetra M. (Inventor)

    2017-01-01

    The invention provides new composite materials containing aerogels blended with thermoplastic polymer materials at a weight ratio of aerogel to thermoplastic polymer of less than 20:100. The composite materials have improved thermal insulation ability. The composite materials also have better flexibility and less brittleness at low temperatures than the parent thermoplastic polymer materials.

  5. High strength fused silica flexures manufactured by femtosecond laser

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellouard, Yves; Said, Ali A.; Dugan, Mark; Bado, Philippe

    2009-02-01

    Flexures are mechanical elements used in micro- and precision-engineering to precisely guide the motion of micro-parts. They consist of slender bodies that deform elastically upon the application of a force. Although counter-intuitive at first, fused silica is an attractive material for flexure. Pending that the machining process does not introduce surface flaws that would lead to catastrophic failure, the material has a theoretically high ultimate tensile strength of several GPa. We report on high-aspect ratio fused silica flexures manufactured by femtosecond laser combined with chemical etching. Notch-hinges with thickness as small as twenty microns and aspect ratios comparable to aspect ratios obtained by Deep- Reactive-Ion-Etching (DRIE) were fabricated and tested under different loading conditions. Multiple fracture tests were performed for various loading conditions and the cracks morphologies were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The manufactured elements show outstanding mechanical properties with flexural strengths largely exceeding those obtained with other technologies and materials. Fused silica flexures offer a mean to combine integrated optics with micro-mechanics in a single monolithic substrate. Waveguides and mechanical elements can be combined in a monolithic devices opening new opportunities for integrated opto-mechatronics devices.

  6. Aerogels: II. Applications in catalysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlović Aleksandar M.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Sol-gel synthesis, and the resulting materials (xerogels and aerogels are finding increasing application in the synthesis of catalysts, due to their unique characteristics. The most important features of the sol-gel process are: the ability to achieve homogeneity at the molecular level, the introduction of several species in only one step and the ability to stabilize metastable phases. The supercritical drying process produces aerogels with structural features quite different to conventional materials. Some of these characteristics of aerogels can make them very effective catalysts.

  7. Surface Plasmon Resonance Evaluation of Colloidal Metal Aerogel Filters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, David D.; Sibille, Laurent; Cronise, Raymond J.; Noever, David A.

    1997-01-01

    We have fabricated aerogels containing gold, silver, and platinum nanoparticles for gas catalysis applications. By applying the concept of an average or effective dielectric constant to the heterogeneous interlayer surrounding each particle, we extend the technique of immersion spectroscopy to porous or heterogeneous media. Specifically, we apply the predominant effective medium theories for the determination of the average fractional composition of each component in this inhomogeneous layer. Hence, the surface area of metal available for catalytic gas reaction is determined. The technique is satisfactory for statistically random metal particle distributions but needs further modification for aggregated or surfactant modified systems. Additionally, the kinetics suggest that collective particle interactions in coagulated clusters are perturbed during silica gelation resulting in a change in the aggregate geometry.

  8. Carbon aerogels by pyrolysis of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Sizhao; Feng, Jian; Feng, Junzong; Jiang, Yonggang; Ding, Feng

    2018-05-01

    Although carbon aerogels derived from naturally occurring materials have been developed extensively, a reasonable synthetic approach using cellulose-resource remains unclear. Here, we report a strategy to prepare carbon aerogels originated from cellulose position-selectively oxidized by TEMPO-oxidized process. Contrary to non-TEMPO-oxidized cellulose-derived carbon aerogels (NCCA) with relative loose structure, TEMPO-oxidized cellulose-derived carbon aerogels (TCCA) with tight fibrillar-continuous network are monitored, suggesting the importance of TEMPO-oxidized modification towards creating the architecture of subsequently produced carbon aerogels. TCCA endows a higher BET area despite owning slightly dense bulk density comparing with that of NCCA. The structural texture of TCCA could be maintained in a way in comparison to TEMPO-oxidized cellulose-derived aerogel, due to the integration and aggregation effect by losing the electric double layer repulsion via ionization of the surface carboxyl groups. FTIR and XPS analyses signify the evidence of non-functionalized carbon-skeleton network formation in terms of TCCA. Further, the mechanism concerning the creation of carbon aerogels is also established. These findings not only provide new insights into the production of carbon aerogels but also open up a new opportunity in the field of functional carbon materials.

  9. An emerging platform for drug delivery: aerogel based systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulker, Zeynep; Erkey, Can

    2014-03-10

    Over the past few decades, advances in "aerogel science" have provoked an increasing interest for these materials in pharmaceutical sciences for drug delivery applications. Because of their high surface areas, high porosities and open pore structures which can be tuned and controlled by manipulation of synthesis conditions, nanostructured aerogels represent a promising class of materials for delivery of various drugs as well as enzymes and proteins. Along with biocompatible inorganic aerogels and biodegradable organic aerogels, more complex systems such as surface functionalized aerogels, composite aerogels and layered aerogels have also been under development and possess huge potential. Emphasis is given to the details of the aerogel synthesis and drug loading methods as well as the influence of synthesis parameters and loading methods on the adsorption and release of the drugs. Owing to their ability to increase the bioavailability of low solubility drugs, to improve both their stability and their release kinetics, there are an increasing number of research articles concerning aerogels in different drug delivery applications. This review presents an up to date overview of the advances in all kinds of aerogel based drug delivery systems which are currently under investigation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Aerogels from Chitosan Solutions in Ionic Liquids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Santos-López

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Chitosan aerogels conjugates the characteristics of nanostructured porous materials, i.e., extended specific surface area and nano scale porosity, with the remarkable functional properties of chitosan. Aerogels were obtained from solutions of chitosan in ionic liquids (ILs, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (BMIMAc, and 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium acetate (EMIMAc, in order to observe the effect of the solvent in the structural characteristics of this type of materials. The process of elaboration of aerogels comprised the formation of physical gels through anti-solvent vapor diffusion, liquid phase exchange, and supercritical CO2 drying. The aerogels maintained the chemical identity of chitosan according to Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR spectroscopy, indicating the presence of their characteristic functional groups. The internal structure of the obtained aerogels appears as porous aggregated networks in microscopy images. The obtained materials have specific surface areas over 350 m2/g and can be considered mesoporous. According to swelling experiments, the chitosan aerogels could absorb between three and six times their weight of water. However, the swelling and diffusion coefficient decreased at higher temperatures. The structural characteristics of chitosan aerogels that are obtained from ionic liquids are distinctive and could be related to solvation dynamic at the initial state.

  11. Synthesis and application of in-situ molecularly imprinted silica monolithic in pipette-tip solid-phase microextraction for the separation and determination of gallic acid in orange juice samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arabi, Maryam; Ghaedi, Mehrorang; Ostovan, Abbas

    2017-03-24

    A novel strategy was presented for the synthesis and application of functionalized silica monolithic as artificial receptor of gallic acid at micro-pipette tip. A sol-gel process was used to prepare the sorbent. In this in-situ polymerization reaction, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTMS), gallic acid and thiourea were used, respectively, as cross-linker, functionalized monomer, template and precursor to make crack-free and non-fragile structure. Such durable and inexpensive in-situ monolithic was successfully employed as useful tool for highly efficient extraction of gallic acid from orange juice samples. The effective parameters in extraction recovery were investigated and optimum conditions were obtained using experimental design methodology. Applying HPLC-UV for separation quantification at optimal conditions, the gallic acid was efficiently extracted without significant matrix interference. Good linearity for gallic acid in the range of 0.02-5.0mgL -1 with correlation coefficients of R 2 >0.999 revealed well applicability of the method for trace analysis. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  12. Inverted opal luminescent Ce-doped silica glasses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Scotti

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Inverted opal Ce-doped silica glasses (Ce : Si molar ratio 1 ⋅ 10−3 were prepared by a sol-gel method using opals of latex microspheres as templates. The rare earth is homogeneously dispersed in silica host matrix, as evidenced by the absence of segregated CeO2, instead present in monolithic Ce-doped SG with the same cerium content. This suggests that the nanometric dimensions of bridges and junctions of the host matrix in the inverted opal structures favor the RE distribution avoiding the possible segregation of CeO2.

  13. Comparing monolithic and fused core HPLC columns for fast chromatographic analysis of fat-soluble vitamins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurdi, Said El; Muaileq, Dina Abu; Alhazmi, Hassan A; Bratty, Mohammed Al; Deeb, Sami El

    2017-06-27

    HPLC stationary phases of monolithic and fused core type can be used to achieve fast chromatographic separation as an alternative to UPLC. In this study, monolithic and fused core stationary phases are compared for fast separation of four fat-soluble vitamins. Three new methods on the first and second generation monolithic silica RP-18e columns and a fused core pentafluoro-phenyl propyl column were developed. Application of three fused core columns offered comparable separations of retinyl palmitate, DL-α-tocopheryl acetate, cholecalciferol and menadione in terms of elution speed and separation efficiency. Separation was achieved in approx. 5 min with good resolution (Rs > 5) and precision (RSD ≤ 0.6 %). Monolithic columns showed, however, a higher number of theoretical plates, better precision and lower column backpressure than the fused core column. The three developed methods were successfully applied to separate and quantitate fat-soluble vitamins in commercial products.

  14. Bridged polysilsesquioxane-based wide-bore monolithic capillary columns for hydrophilic interaction chromatography

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šesták, Jozef; Moravcová, Dana; Křenková, Jana; Planeta, Josef; Roth, Michal; Foret, František

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 1479, JAN (2017), s. 204-209 ISSN 0021-9673 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-06319S; GA ČR(CZ) GA16-03749S Institutional support: RVO:68081715 Keywords : silica monolithic column * HILIC * oligosaccharides * nucleosides Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation OBOR OECD: Analytical chemistry Impact factor: 3.981, year: 2016

  15. Characterization of polymer-based monolithic capillary columns by inverse size-exclusion chromatography and mercury-intrusion porosimetry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Urban, J.; Eeltink, S.; Jandera, P.; Schoenmakers, P.J.

    2008-01-01

    Organic-polymer monolithic capillary columns were prepared in fused-silica capillaries by a radical copolymerization reaction of butyl methacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate monomers in the presence of 1,4-butanediol and 1-propanol as porogen solvents and azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator.

  16. Insights into the Controllable Chemical Composition of Metal Oxide Nanowires and Graphene Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Anna Patrice

    briefly, then isolated pockets of MTiO3 are formed on the nanowire surface. This structure retains the conductive channel in the center of the nanowire, which can be useful for charge separation. Longer annealing times result in segmented nanowires; the segments formed from a Ni-coated nanowire are bounded by TiO2(01-1) twin planes and NiTiO 3{100}/TiO2{03-1} interfaces. An alternative strategy for storing solar energy takes advantage of the capacitance between a semiconductor surface and adsorbed ions in solution. This type of energy storage device is called an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC). Graphene-based aerogels, which are porous materials composed of few-layer graphitic sheets, have the potential for higher surface area and higher conductivity than standard carbon aerogels. These properties make graphene-based aerogels a good material candidate for EDLC electrodes. Graphene oxide (GO) is the precursor material for the synthesis of a graphene-based aerogel, and it has been widely studied. Yet its hydrothermal gelation is still not fully understood, due to the high pressure reaction conditions and the non-uniform nature of GO. We demonstrate a number of changes that occur to the GO sheets during gelation: wrinkling, formation of a densified monolith, deoxygenation, increasing thermal stability, and color change. Plotting the time evolution of all these properties shows that they are simultaneous and likely of common origin. Possible mechanisms for gelation are explored. Graphene aerogels are synthesized by vapor phase thermal reduction of GO aerogels at temperatures up to 1600 °C. Further deoxygenation is observed in the aerogel during thermal reduction, along with enhanced crystallinity and an associated change in the electronic structure. When graphene aerogels are exposed to high-temperature boron oxide vapor, they are converted to boron nitride (BN) aerogels. The structure of the BN aerogel is investigated and shown to be similar in nanoscale morphology

  17. Fibrous-Ceramic/Aerogel Composite Insulating Tiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Susan M.; Rasky, Daniel J.

    2004-01-01

    Fibrous-ceramic/aerogel composite tiles have been invented to afford combinations of thermal-insulation and mechanical properties superior to those attainable by making tiles of fibrous ceramics alone or aerogels alone. These lightweight tiles can be tailored to a variety of applications that range from insulating cryogenic tanks to protecting spacecraft against re-entry heating. The advantages and disadvantages of fibrous ceramics and aerogels can be summarized as follows: Tiles made of ceramic fibers are known for mechanical strength, toughness, and machinability. Fibrous ceramic tiles are highly effective as thermal insulators in a vacuum. However, undesirably, the porosity of these materials makes them permeable by gases, so that in the presence of air or other gases, convection and gas-phase conduction contribute to the effective thermal conductivity of the tiles. Other disadvantages of the porosity and permeability of fibrous ceramic tiles arise because gases (e.g., water vapor or cryogenic gases) can condense in pores. This condensation contributes to weight, and in the case of cryogenic systems, the heat of condensation undesirably adds to the heat flowing to the objects that one seeks to keep cold. Moreover, there is a risk of explosion associated with vaporization of previously condensed gas upon reheating. Aerogels offer low permeability, low density, and low thermal conductivity, but are mechanically fragile. The basic idea of the present invention is to exploit the best features of fibrous ceramic tiles and aerogels. In a composite tile according to the invention, the fibrous ceramic serves as a matrix that mechanically supports the aerogel, while the aerogel serves as a low-conductivity, low-permeability filling that closes what would otherwise be the open pores of the fibrous ceramic. Because the aerogel eliminates or at least suppresses permeation by gas, gas-phase conduction, and convection, the thermal conductivity of such a composite even at

  18. Violin mode amplitude glitch monitor for the presence of excess noise on the monolithic silica suspensions of GEO 600

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sorazu, B; Strain, K A; Heng, I S; Kumar, R, E-mail: b.sorazu@physics.gla.ac.u [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom)

    2010-08-07

    Non-Gaussian features of data from gravitational wave detectors are of interest as unpredictable 'glitches' limit the sensitivity of searches for many kinds of signal. We consider events due to non-random excitations of the test masses and their suspension fibres. These events could, for example, be related to acoustic emissions in the fibres due to the presence and propagation of cracks or another type of structural perturbation, and they would generate excess noise above the Gaussian background, which matches the level expected due to thermal noise. We look for excess noise in the fundamental violin modes of the monolithic silica suspension fibres of GEO 600. We describe the algorithm used to monitor the violin mode amplitude for glitches, present our results and consider how these may be applied to advanced detectors. The conclusion of our analysis is that no excess noise above what was considered to be thermal noise was observed for several days of h(t) data analysed at the frequency of the selected violin modes.

  19. Violin mode amplitude glitch monitor for the presence of excess noise on the monolithic silica suspensions of GEO 600

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sorazu, B; Strain, K A; Heng, I S; Kumar, R

    2010-01-01

    Non-Gaussian features of data from gravitational wave detectors are of interest as unpredictable 'glitches' limit the sensitivity of searches for many kinds of signal. We consider events due to non-random excitations of the test masses and their suspension fibres. These events could, for example, be related to acoustic emissions in the fibres due to the presence and propagation of cracks or another type of structural perturbation, and they would generate excess noise above the Gaussian background, which matches the level expected due to thermal noise. We look for excess noise in the fundamental violin modes of the monolithic silica suspension fibres of GEO 600. We describe the algorithm used to monitor the violin mode amplitude for glitches, present our results and consider how these may be applied to advanced detectors. The conclusion of our analysis is that no excess noise above what was considered to be thermal noise was observed for several days of h(t) data analysed at the frequency of the selected violin modes.

  20. Violin mode amplitude glitch monitor for the presence of excess noise on the monolithic silica suspensions of GEO 600

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorazu, B.; Strain, K. A.; Heng, I. S.; Kumar, R.

    2010-08-01

    Non-Gaussian features of data from gravitational wave detectors are of interest as unpredictable 'glitches' limit the sensitivity of searches for many kinds of signal. We consider events due to non-random excitations of the test masses and their suspension fibres. These events could, for example, be related to acoustic emissions in the fibres due to the presence and propagation of cracks or another type of structural perturbation, and they would generate excess noise above the Gaussian background, which matches the level expected due to thermal noise. We look for excess noise in the fundamental violin modes of the monolithic silica suspension fibres of GEO 600. We describe the algorithm used to monitor the violin mode amplitude for glitches, present our results and consider how these may be applied to advanced detectors. The conclusion of our analysis is that no excess noise above what was considered to be thermal noise was observed for several days of h(t) data analysed at the frequency of the selected violin modes.

  1. High strength air-dried aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coronado, Paul R.; Satcher, Jr., Joe H.

    2012-11-06

    A method for the preparation of high strength air-dried organic aerogels. The method involves the sol-gel polymerization of organic gel precursors, such as resorcinol with formaldehyde (RF) in aqueous solvents with R/C ratios greater than about 1000 and R/F ratios less than about 1:2.1. Using a procedure analogous to the preparation of resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) aerogels, this approach generates wet gels that can be air dried at ambient temperatures and pressures. The method significantly reduces the time and/or energy required to produce a dried aerogel compared to conventional methods using either supercritical solvent extraction. The air dried gel exhibits typically less than 5% shrinkage.

  2. Development of aerogel Cherenkov detectors at Novosibirsk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnyakov, A.Yu.; Barnyakov, M.Yu.; Baehr, J.; Bellunato, T.; Beloborodov, K.I.; Bobrovnikov, V.S.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Calvi, M.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Djordjadze, V.; Golubev, V.B.; Kononov, S.A.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Lipka, D.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Onuchin, A.P.; Perego, D.; Rodiakin, V.A.; Savinov, G.A.; Serednyakov, S.I.; Shamov, A.G.; Stephan, F.; Tayursky, V.A.; Vorobiov, A.I.

    2005-01-01

    The development of aerogel Cherenkov counters with the light collection using a wavelength shifter is described. 80 counters of this type are working in the KEDR detector. A project of similar counters for the SND detector based on 'heavy' aerogel with n=1.13 has been developed. Aerogel with a refractive index of 1.006-1.13 and dimensions of blocks up to 200x200x50mm 3 is produced by the Novosibirsk group for use in Cherenkov counters of different types. The Novosibirsk group is participating in the development of LHCb RICH as well as a beam diagnostics for a photo-injector test facility at DESY-Zeuthen. Recently we started development of RICH based on focusing aerogel (FARICH) for the endcap of the SuperBaBar. For the first time in the world the focusing aerogel with layers of different refractive indices has been produced

  3. Novel polybenzoxazine-based carbon aerogel electrode for supercapacitors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Katanyoota, Porawee [Petroleum and Petrochemical College and National Center of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemicals and Advanced Materials, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand); Chaisuwan, Thayanlak, E-mail: thanyalak.c@hotmail.co [Petroleum and Petrochemical College and National Center of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemicals and Advanced Materials, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand); Wongchaisuwat, Atchana [Department of Chemistry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900 (Thailand); Wongkasemjit, Sujitra, E-mail: dsujitra@chula.ac.t [Petroleum and Petrochemical College and National Center of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemicals and Advanced Materials, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand)

    2010-02-25

    In this study, polybenzoxazine, a new high performance thermosetting resin, was used to prepare carbon aerogels used as an electrode for supercapacitors. Two types of polybenzoxazines, derived from two different amines, aniline and triethylenetetramine, and denoted as BA-a and BA-teta, respectively, were chosen as the reactants for the organic precursor preparation. The surface area of carbon aerogels from both BA-a and BA-teta was 391 and 368 m{sup 2}/g, respectively. The pore size of each carbon aerogel was in the range of 2-5 nm, which is a suitable pore size for use as electrodes in electrochemical applications. The electrochemical properties of the obtained carbon aerogels showed good performance for supercapacitor applications with a specific capacitance of 55.78 and 20.53 F/g for BA-teta and BA-a, respectively. At low voltage scanning, 1 and 5 mV/s, the cyclic voltammogram of the carbon aerogel derived from BA-teta gave a better rectangular shape than that of the other carbon aerogel. The impedance spectra of both carbon aerogels confirmed the results of the capacitance and the cyclic voltammogram analyses.

  4. Novel polybenzoxazine-based carbon aerogel electrode for supercapacitors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katanyoota, Porawee; Chaisuwan, Thayanlak; Wongchaisuwat, Atchana; Wongkasemjit, Sujitra

    2010-01-01

    In this study, polybenzoxazine, a new high performance thermosetting resin, was used to prepare carbon aerogels used as an electrode for supercapacitors. Two types of polybenzoxazines, derived from two different amines, aniline and triethylenetetramine, and denoted as BA-a and BA-teta, respectively, were chosen as the reactants for the organic precursor preparation. The surface area of carbon aerogels from both BA-a and BA-teta was 391 and 368 m 2 /g, respectively. The pore size of each carbon aerogel was in the range of 2-5 nm, which is a suitable pore size for use as electrodes in electrochemical applications. The electrochemical properties of the obtained carbon aerogels showed good performance for supercapacitor applications with a specific capacitance of 55.78 and 20.53 F/g for BA-teta and BA-a, respectively. At low voltage scanning, 1 and 5 mV/s, the cyclic voltammogram of the carbon aerogel derived from BA-teta gave a better rectangular shape than that of the other carbon aerogel. The impedance spectra of both carbon aerogels confirmed the results of the capacitance and the cyclic voltammogram analyses.

  5. Review on recent and advanced applications of monoliths and related porous polymer gels in micro-fluidic devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vazquez, Mercedes; Paull, Brett

    2010-01-01

    This review critically summarises recent novel and advanced achievements in the application of monolithic materials and related porous polymer gels in micro-fluidic devices appearing within the literature over the period of the last 5 years (2005-2010). The range of monolithic materials has developed rapidly over the past decade, with a diverse and highly versatile class of materials now available, with each exhibiting distinct porosities, pore sizes, and a wide variety of surface functionalities. A major advantage of these materials is their ease of preparation in micro-fluidic channels by in situ polymerisation, leading to monolithic materials being increasingly utilised for a larger variety of purposes in micro-fluidic platforms. Applications of porous polymer monoliths, silica-based monoliths and related homogeneous porous polymer gels in the preparation of separation columns, ion-permeable membranes, preconcentrators, extractors, electrospray emitters, micro-valves, electrokinetic pumps, micro-reactors and micro-mixers in micro-fluidic devices are discussed herein. Procedures used in the preparation of monolithic materials in micro-channels, as well as some practical aspects of the micro-fluidic chip fabrication are addressed. Recent analytical/bioanalytical and catalytic applications of the final micro-fluidic devices incorporating monolithic materials are also reviewed.

  6. Electrospinning of polymer-aerogel composite fibres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Lasse; Fojan, Peter

    En poster om produktion af polymer-aerogel kompositfibre ved hjælp af elektrospinning. Fiberne er produceret fra en opløsning af aerogel og polyethylene oxide i vand, som er elektrospundet gennem en enkeltnålsprocess....

  7. Aerogel for FARICH detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnyakov, A.Yu. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Barnyakov, M.Yu. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State Technical University, Karl Marks 20, Novosibirsk 630073 (Russian Federation); Bobrovnikov, V.S.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Gulevich, V.V. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Danilyuk, A.F. [Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Lavrentieva 5, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Kononov, S.A.; Kravchenko, E.A. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Kuyanov, I.A. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Lopatin, S.A. [Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Lavrentieva 5, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Onuchin, A.P.; Ovtin, I.V.; Podgornov, N.A. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State Technical University, Karl Marks 20, Novosibirsk 630073 (Russian Federation); Porosev, V.V. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentieva 11, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Predein, A.Yu.; Protsenko, R.S. [Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Lavrentieva 5, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation)

    2014-12-01

    We present our current experience in preparation of focusing aerogels for the Focusing Aerogel RICH detector. Multilayer focusing aerogel tiles have been produced in Novosibirsk by a collaboration of the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics and Boreskov Institute of Catalysis since 2004. We have obtained 2–3–4-layer blocks with the thickness of 30–45 mm. In 2012, the first samples of focusing blocks with continuous density (refractive index) gradient along thickness were produced. This technology can significantly reduce the contribution from the geometric factor of the radiator thickness to the resolution of the measured Cherenkov angle in the FARICH detector. The special installation was used for automatic control of reagents ratio during the synthesis process. The first samples were tested using the digital radiography method and on the electron beam with the FARICH prototype.

  8. Chemical modification of graphene aerogels for electrochemical capacitor applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Jin-Yong; Wie, Jeong Jae; Xu, Yu; Park, Ho Seok

    2015-12-14

    Graphene aerogel is a relatively new type of aerogel that is ideal for energy storage applications because of its large surface area, high electrical conductivity and good chemical stability. Also, three dimensional interconnected macropores offer many advantages such as low density, fast ion and mass transfer, and easy access to storage sites. Such features allow graphene aerogels to be intensively applied for electrochemical capacitor applications. Despite the growing interest in graphene aerogel-based electrochemical capacitors, however, the graphene aerogels still suffer from their low capacitive performances and high fragility. Both relatively low capacitance and brittleness of physically crosslinked graphene aerogels remain a critical challenge. Until now, a number of alternative attempts have been devoted to overcome these shortcomings. In this perspective, we summarize the recent research progress towards the development of advanced graphene aerogel-based electrochemical capacitors according to the different approaches (e.g. porosity, composition and structure controls). Then, the recently proposed chemical strategies to improve the capacitive performances and mechanical durability of graphene aerogels for practical applications are highlighted. Finally, the current challenges and perspectives in this emerging material are also discussed.

  9. Comparing monolithic and fused core HPLC columns for fast chromatographic analysis of fat-soluble vitamins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kurdi Said El

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available HPLC stationary phases of monolithic and fused core type can be used to achieve fast chromatographic separation as an alternative to UPLC. In this study, monolithic and fused core stationary phases are compared for fast separation of four fat-soluble vitamins. Three new methods on the first and second generation monolithic silica RP-18e columns and a fused core pentafluoro-phenyl propyl column were developed. Application of three fused core columns offered comparable separations of retinyl palmitate, DL-α-tocopheryl acetate, cholecalciferol and menadione in terms of elution speed and separation efficiency. Separation was achieved in approx. 5 min with good resolution (Rs > 5 and precision (RSD ≤ 0.6 %. Monolithic columns showed, however, a higher number of theoretical plates, better precision and lower column backpressure than the fused core column. The three developed methods were successfully applied to separate and quantitate fat-soluble vitamins in commercial products.

  10. Mechanically Strong Lightweight Materials for Aerospace Applications (x-aerogels)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leventis, Nicholas

    2005-01-01

    The X-Aerogel is a new NASA-developed strong lightweight material made by reacting the mesoporous surfaces of 3-D networks of inorganic nanoparticles with polymeric crosslinkers. Since the relative amount of the crosslinker and the backbone are comparable, X-Aerogels can be viewed either as aerogels modified by templated accumulation of polymer on the skeletal nanoparticles, or as nanoporous polymers made by templated casting of polymeric precursors on a nanostructured framework. The most striking feature of X-Aerogels is that for a nominal 3-fold increase in density (still a ultralightweight material), the mechanical strength can be up to 300 times higher than the strength of the underlying native aerogel. Thus, X-Aerogels combine a multiple of the specific compressive strength of steel, with the thermal conductivity of styrofoam. XAerogels have been demonstrated with several polymers such as polyurethanes/polyureas, epoxies and polyolefins, while crosslinking of approximately 35 different oxide aerogels yields a wide variety of dimensionally stable, porous lightweight materials with interesting structural, magnetic and optical properties. X-Aerogels are evaluated for cryogenic rocket fuel storage tanks and for Advanced EVA suits, where they will play the dual role of the thermal insulator/structural material. Along the same lines, major impact is also expected by the use of X-Aerogels in structural components/thermal protection for small satellites, spacecrafts, planetary vehicles and habitats.

  11. Effects of Microgravity on the Formation of Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, A. J.; Ayers, M. R.; Sibille, L.; Cronise, R. J.; Noever, D. A.

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes research to investigate fundamental aspects of the effects of microgravity on the formation of the microstructure of metal oxide alcogels and aerogels. We are studying the role of gravity on pore structure and gel uniformity in collaboration with Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) on gelling systems under microgravity conditions. While this project was just initiated in May 1998, related research performed earlier is described along with the plans and rationale for the current microgravity investigation to provide background and describe newly developing techniques that should be useful for the current gellation studies. The role of gravity in materials processing must be investigated through the study of well-mastered systems. Sol-gel processed materials are near-perfect candidates to determine the effect of gravity on the formation and growth of random clusters from hierarchies of aggregated units. The processes of hydrolysis, condensation, aggregation and gellation in the formation of alcogels are affected by gravity and therefore provide a rich system to study under microgravity conditions. Supercritical drying of the otherwise unstable wet alcogel preserves the alcogel structure produced during sol-gel processing as aerogel. Supercritically dried aerogel provides for the study of material microstructures without interference from the effects of surface tension, evaporation, and solvent flow. Aerogels are microstructured, low density open-pore solids. They have many unusual properties including: transparency, excellent thermal resistance, high surface area, very low refractive index, a dielectric constant approaching that of air, and extremely low sound velocity. Aerogels are synthesized using sol-gel processing followed by supercritical solvent extraction that leaves the original gel structure virtually intact. These studies will elucidate the effects of microgravity on the homogeneity of the microstructure and porosity of aerogel. The

  12. Transparent aerogel Windows

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Schultz, Jørgen Munthe

    the supercritical washing step included in the drying phase. At the same time the production plant have been modified to recycle most of the chemicals involved in the production process. A large number of aerogel glazing prototypes have been made with partly evacuated aerogel in between two layers of low iron...... and anti reflection treated glass panes with an airtight edge seal solution based on multi-layered plastic foil developed for vacuum insulation purposes. The edge seal solution shows only a very limited thermal bridge effect. The final glazing has a total solar energy transmittance about 87% and a U...

  13. Nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels for electrical energy storage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Patrick; Montalvo, Elizabeth; Baumann, Theodore F.; Biener, Juergen; Merrill, Matthew; Reed, Eric W.; Worsley, Marcus A.

    2017-10-03

    Disclosed here is a method for making a nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel, comprising: preparing a reaction mixture comprising formaldehyde, at least one nitrogen-containing resorcinol analog, at least one catalyst, and at least one solvent; curing the reaction mixture to produce a wet gel; drying the wet gel to produce a dry gel; and thermally annealing the dry gel to produce the nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel. Also disclosed is a nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel obtained according to the method and a supercapacitor comprising the nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel.

  14. Adsorption-Induced Deformation of Hierarchically Structured Mesoporous Silica-Effect of Pore-Level Anisotropy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balzer, Christian; Waag, Anna M; Gehret, Stefan; Reichenauer, Gudrun; Putz, Florian; Hüsing, Nicola; Paris, Oskar; Bernstein, Noam; Gor, Gennady Y; Neimark, Alexander V

    2017-06-06

    The goal of this work is to understand adsorption-induced deformation of hierarchically structured porous silica exhibiting well-defined cylindrical mesopores. For this purpose, we performed an in situ dilatometry measurement on a calcined and sintered monolithic silica sample during the adsorption of N 2 at 77 K. To analyze the experimental data, we extended the adsorption stress model to account for the anisotropy of cylindrical mesopores, i.e., we explicitly derived the adsorption stress tensor components in the axial and radial direction of the pore. For quantitative predictions of stresses and strains, we applied the theoretical framework of Derjaguin, Broekhoff, and de Boer for adsorption in mesopores and two mechanical models of silica rods with axially aligned pore channels: an idealized cylindrical tube model, which can be described analytically, and an ordered hexagonal array of cylindrical mesopores, whose mechanical response to adsorption stress was evaluated by 3D finite element calculations. The adsorption-induced strains predicted by both mechanical models are in good quantitative agreement making the cylindrical tube the preferable model for adsorption-induced strains due to its simple analytical nature. The theoretical results are compared with the in situ dilatometry data on a hierarchically structured silica monolith composed by a network of mesoporous struts of MCM-41 type morphology. Analyzing the experimental adsorption and strain data with the proposed theoretical framework, we find the adsorption-induced deformation of the monolithic sample being reasonably described by a superposition of axial and radial strains calculated on the mesopore level. The structural and mechanical parameters obtained from the model are in good agreement with expectations from independent measurements and literature, respectively.

  15. Bluedec in product design : Isolatiemateriaal op basis van aerogel

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beurden, van K.M.M. (Karin); Goselink, E.A. (Erik)

    2014-01-01

    Aerogel is een zeer kostbaar voor de ruimtevaart ontwikkeld basismateriaal. Bluedec is een isolatiemateriaal bestaande uit een non woven kunststof dat met deze aerogel geïmpregneerd is. Hierdoor ontstaat een zeer goed isolerend materiaal dat goedkoper is dan aerogel. De

  16. Nanoporous Cu-C composites based on carbon-nanotube aerogels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Charnvanichborikarn, S.; Shin, S. J.; Worsley, M. A.; Tran, I. C.; Willey, T. M.; van Buuren, T.; Felter, T. E.; Colvin, J. D.; Kucheyev, S. O. [LLNL; (Sandia)

    2013-11-22

    Current synthesis methods of nanoporous Cu–C composites offer limited control of the material composition, structure, and properties, particularly for large Cu loadings of ≳20 wt%. Here, we describe two related approaches to realize novel nanoporous Cu–C composites based on the templating of recently developed carbon-nanotube aerogels (CNT-CAs). Our first approach involves the trapping of Cu nanoparticles while CNT-CAs undergo gelation. This method yields nanofoams with relatively high densities of ≳65 mg cm-3 for Cu loadings of ≳10 wt%. Our second approach overcomes this limitation by filling the pores of undoped CNT-CA monoliths with an aqueous solution of CuSO4 followed by (i) freeze-drying to remove water and (ii) thermal decomposition of CuSO4. With this approach, we demonstrate Cu–C composites with a C matrix density of -25 mg cm-3 and Cu loadings of up to 70 wt%. These versatile methods could be extended to fabricate other nanoporous metal–carbon composite materials geared for specific applications.

  17. Environmentally Benign Production of Stretchable and Robust Superhydrophobic Silicone Monoliths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Alexander; Surdo, Salvatore; Caputo, Gianvito; Bayer, Ilker S; Athanassiou, Athanassia

    2018-01-24

    Superhydrophobic materials hold an enormous potential in sectors as important as aerospace, food industries, or biomedicine. Despite this great promise, the lack of environmentally friendly production methods and limited robustness remain the two most pertinent barriers to the scalability, large-area production, and widespread use of superhydrophobic materials. In this work, highly robust superhydrophobic silicone monoliths are produced through a scalable and environmentally friendly emulsion technique. It is first found that stable and surfactantless water-in-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) emulsions can be formed through mechanical mixing. Increasing the internal phase fraction of the precursor emulsion is found to increase porosity and microtexture of the final monoliths, rendering them superhydrophobic. Silica nanoparticles can also be dispersed in the aqueous internal phase to create micro/nanotextured monoliths, giving further improvements in superhydrophobicity. Due to the elastomeric nature of PDMS, superhydrophobicity can be maintained even while the material is mechanically strained or compressed. In addition, because of their self-similarity, the monoliths show outstanding robustness to knife-scratch, tape-peel, and finger-wipe tests, as well as rigorous sandpaper abrasion. Superhydrophobicity was also unchanged when exposed to adverse environmental conditions including corrosive solutions, UV light, extreme temperatures, and high-energy droplet impact. Finally, important properties for eventual adoption in real-world applications including self-cleaning, stain-repellence, and blood-repellence are demonstrated.

  18. Preparation and evaluation of 400μm I.D. polymer-based hydrophilic interaction chromatography monolithic columns with high column efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chusheng; Li, Haibin; Wang, Qiqin; Crommen, Jacques; Zhou, Haibo; Jiang, Zhengjin

    2017-08-04

    The quest for higher column efficiency is one of the major research areas in polymer-based monolithic column fabrication. In this research, two novel polymer-based HILIC monolithic columns with 400μm I.D.×800μm O.D. were prepared based on the thermally initiated co-polymerization of N,N-dimethyl-N-(3-methacrylamidopropyl)-N-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium betaine (SPP) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) or N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA). In order to obtain a satisfactory performance in terms of column permeability, mechanical stability, efficiency and selectivity, the polymerization parameters were systematically optimized. Column efficiencies as high as 142, 000 plates/m and 120, 000 plates/m were observed for the analysis of neutral compounds at 0.6mm/s on the poly(SPP-co-MBA) and poly(SPP-co-EDMA) monoliths, respectively. Furthermore, the Van Deemter plots for thiourea on the two monoliths were compared with that on a commercial silica based ZIC-HILIC column (3.5μm, 200Å, 150mm×300μm I.D.) using ACN/H 2 O (90/10, v/v) as the mobile phase at room temperature. It was noticeable that the Van Deemter curves for both monoliths, particularly the poly(SPP-co-MBA) monolith, are significantly flatter than that obtained for the ZIC-HILIC column, which indicates that in spite of their larger internal diameters, they yield better overall efficiency, with less peak dispersion, across a much wider range of usable linear velocities. A clearly better separation performance was also observed for nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides and small peptides on the poly(SPP-co-MBA) monolith compared to the ZIC-HILIC column. It is particularly worth mentioning that these 400μm I.D. polymer-based HILIC monolithic columns exhibit enhanced mechanical strength owing to the thicker capillary wall of the fused-silica capillaries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Polyimide-Foam/Aerogel Composites for Thermal Insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Martha; Fesmire, James; Sass, Jared; Smith, Trent; Weoser. Erol

    2009-01-01

    Composites of specific types of polymer foams and aerogel particles or blankets have been proposed to obtain thermal insulation performance superior to those of the neat polyimide foams. These composites have potential to also provide enhanced properties for vibration dampening or acoustic attenuation. The specific type of polymer foam is denoted "TEEK-H", signifying a series, denoted H, within a family of polyimide foams that were developed at NASA s Langley Research Center and are collectively denoted TEEK (an acronym of the inventors names). The specific types of aerogels include Nanogel aerogel particles from Cabot Corporation in Billerica, MA. and of Spaceloft aerogel blanket from Aspen Aerogels in Northborough, MA. The composites are inherently flame-retardant and exceptionally thermally stable. There are numerous potential uses for these composites, at temperatures from cryogenic to high temperatures, in diverse applications that include aerospace vehicles, aircraft, ocean vessels, buildings, and industrial process equipment. Some low-temperature applications, for example, include cryogenic storage and transfer or the transport of foods, medicines, and chemicals. Because of thermal cycling, aging, and weathering most polymer foams do not perform well at cryogenic temperatures and will undergo further cracking over time. The TEEK polyimides are among the few exceptions to this pattern, and the proposed composites are intended to have all the desirable properties of TEEK-H foams, plus improved thermal performance along with enhanced vibration or acoustic-attenuation performance. A composite panel as proposed would be fabricated by adding an appropriate amount of TEEK friable balloons into a mold to form a bottom layer. A piece of flexible aerogel blanket material, cut to the desired size and shape, would then be placed on the bottom TEEK layer and sandwiched between another top layer of polyimide friable balloons so that the aerogel blanket would become

  20. Spectroscopic studies of Cu ions in sol–gel derived silica matrix

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    Abstract. The Cu2+ ion doped silica gel matrices in monolithic shape were prepared by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The absorption, transmittance and fluorescence spectra of the gel matrices heat treated at different temperatures were monitored. The loss of water and hydroxyl group from.

  1. Polyimide Cellulose Nanocrystal Composite Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Baochau N.; Meador, Mary Ann; Rowan, Stuart; Cudjoe, Elvis; Sandberg, Anna

    2014-01-01

    Polyimide (PI) aerogels are highly porous solids having low density, high porosity and low thermal conductivity with good mechanical properties. They are ideal for various applications including use in antenna and insulation such as inflatable decelerators used in entry, decent and landing operations. Recently, attention has been focused on stimuli responsive materials such as cellulose nano crystals (CNCs). CNCs are environmentally friendly, bio-renewable, commonly found in plants and the dermis of sea tunicates, and potentially low cost. This study is to examine the effects of CNC on the polyimide aerogels. The CNC used in this project are extracted from mantle of a sea creature called tunicates. A series of polyimide cellulose nanocrystal composite aerogels has been fabricated having 0-13 wt of CNC. Results will be discussed.

  2. Active and passive silica waveguide integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hübner, Jörg; Guldberg-Kjær, Søren Andreas

    2001-01-01

    . The increasing complexity and functionality of optical networks prompts a demand for highly integrated optical circuits. On-board optical amplifiers, monolithically integrated with functionalities like switching or multiplexing/demultiplexing will allow flexible incorporation of optical integrated circuits...... in existing and future networks without affecting the power budget of the system. Silica on silicon technology offers a unique possibility to selectively dope sections of the integrated circuit with erbium where amplification is desired. Some techniques for active/passive integration are reviewed and a silica......Integrated optical amplifiers are currently regaining interest. Stand-alone single integrated amplifiers offer only limited advantage over current erbium doped fiber amplifiers, whereas arrays of integrated amplifiers are very attractive due to miniaturization and the possibility of mass production...

  3. Iodine Adsorption by Ag-Aerogel under Prototypical Vessel Off-Gas Conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bruffey, Stephanie H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Jubin, Robert Thomas [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2016-08-01

    U.S. regulations will require the removal of 129I from the off-gas streams of any used nuclear fuel (UNF) reprocessing plant prior to discharge of the off-gas to the environment. The required plant decontamination factor for iodine will vary based on fuel burnup, cooling time, and other factors but is very likely to be >1000 and could be as high as 8000. Multiple off-gas streams within a UNF reprocessing plant combine prior to environmental release, and each of these streams contains some amount of iodine. To achieve the decontamination factors (DFs) that are likely to be required by regulations, iodine removal from the vessel off-gas will be necessary. The vessel off-gas contains iodine at very dilute concentrations (ppb levels), and will also contain water vapor. Iodine species present are likely to include both elemental and organic iodides. There will also be solvent vapors and volatile radiolysis products. The United States has considered the use of silver-based sorbents for removal of iodine from UNF off-gas streams, but little is known about the behavior of those sorbents at very dilute iodine concentrations. The purpose of this study was to expose silver-functionalized silica aerogel (AgAerogel) to a prototypical vessel off-gas stream containing 40 ppb methyl iodide to obtain information about organic iodine capture by silver-sorbents at very low iodine concentrations. The design of this extended duration testing was such that information about the rate of adsorption, the penetration of the iodine species, and the overall system DF could be obtained. Results show that CH3I penetrates into a AgAerogel sorbent bed to a depth of 3.9 cm under prototypical vessel off-gas conditions. An iodine loading of 22 mg I/g AgAerogel was observed in the first 0.3 cm of the bed. Of the iodine delivered to the system, 48% could not be accounted for, and future efforts will investigate this concern. Direct calculation of the decontamination factor is not

  4. The synthesis of weak acidic type hybrid monolith via thiol-ene click chemistry and its application in hydrophilic interaction chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Jiao; Liu, Shengquan; Wang, Menglin; Yao, Shouzhuo; Chen, Yingzhuang

    2017-05-01

    In this work, a porous structure and good permeability monolithic column was polymerized in UV transparent fused-silica capillaries via photo-initiated thiol-ene click polymerization of 2,4,6,8-tetravinyl-2,4,6,8-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMTVS), pentaerythritol tetra(3-mercaptopropionate)(PETMP), itaconic acid, respectively, in the presence of porogenic solvents (tetrahydrofuranand methanol) and an initiator (2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone) (DMPA) within 30 min. The physical properties of this monolith were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements. For an overall evaluation of the monolith in chromatographic application, separations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenols, amides and bases were carried out. The column efficiency of this monolith could be as high as 112 560 N/m. It also possesses a potential application in fabrication of monoliths with high efficiency for c-LC. In addition, the resulting monolithic column demonstrated the potential use in analysis of environment waters. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. Optical sensing of triethylamine using CdSe aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yao Qinghong; Brock, Stephanie L

    2010-01-01

    The photoluminescence (PL) response of highly porous CdSe aerogels to triethylamine (TEA) is investigated and compared to results from prior studies on single crystals and nanoparticle-polymer composites. As-prepared CdSe aerogels show significant and reversible enhancement of luminescence intensity upon exposure to TEA relative to the intensity in pure argon carrier gas. The enhancement in the PL response is dependent on the concentration and linear over the range of TEA concentration studied (4.7 x 10 3 -75 x 10 3 ppm). The sensing response of previously tested samples exhibits saturation behavior that is modeled using Langmuir adsorption isotherms, yielding adsorption equilibrium constants in the range 300-380 atm -1 . The response is sensitively affected by the surface characteristics of the aerogel; when the wet gels are treated with pyridine prior to aerogel formation, the response to TEA is diminished, and when as-prepared aerogels are heated in a vacuum, no subsequent response is observed. Deactivation is attributed to an increase in surface oxide (SeO 2 ) and decrease in surface Cd 2+ Lewis acid sites. Sensing runs of approximately one hour have little impact on the morphology or crystallinity of the aerogels, but do result in partial removal of residual thiolate ligands left over from the gelation process.

  6. MOLECULAR DESCRIPTION OF ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION IN A CARBON AEROGEL ELECTRODE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.Kovalenko

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available We develop a molecular theory of aqueous electrolyte solution sorbed in a nanoporous carbon aerogel electrode, based on the replica reference interaction site model (replica RISM for realistic molecular quenched-annealed systems. We also briefly review applications of carbon aerogels for supercapacitor and electrochemical separation devices, as well as theoretical and computer modelling of disordered porous materials. The replica RISM integral equation theory yields the microscopic properties of the electrochemical double layer formed at the surface of carbon aerogel nanopores, with due account of chemical specificities of both sorbed electrolyte and carbon aerogel material. The theory allows for spatial disorder of aerogel pores in the range from micro- to macroscopic size scale. We considered ambient aqueous solution of 1 M sodium chloride sorbed in two model nanoporous carbon aerogels with carbon nanoparticles either arranged into branched chains or randomly distributed. The long-range correlations of the carbon aerogel nanostructure substantially affect the properties of the electrochemical double layer formed by the solution sorbed in nanopores.

  7. Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of zirconia-protected gold nanoparticles embedded in sol-gel derived silica glass

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Rouge, A.; El Hamzaoui, H.; Capoen, B.; Bernard, R.; Cristini-Robbe, O.; Martinelli, G.; Cassagne, C.; Boudebs, G.; Bouazaoui, M.; Bigot, L.

    2015-05-01

    A new approach to dope a silica glass with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) is presented. It consisted in embedding zirconia-coated GNPs in a silica sol to form a doped silica gel. Then, the sol-doped nanoporous silica xerogel is densified leading to the formation of a glass monolith. The spectral position and shape of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) reported around 520 nm remain compatible with small spherical GNPs in a silica matrix. The saturable absorption behavior of this gold/zirconia-doped silica glass has been evidenced by Z-scan technique. A second-order nonlinear absorption coefficient β of about -13.7 cm GW-1 has been obtained at a wavelength near the SPR of the GNPs.

  8. Preparation of acryloyl β-cyclodextrin-silica hybrid monolithic column and its application in pipette tip solid-phase extraction and HPLC analysis of methyl parathion and fenthion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ling; Dang, Xueping; Ai, Youhong; Chen, Huaixia

    2018-05-07

    An acryloyl β-cyclodextrin-silica hybrid monolithic column for pipette tip solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography determination of methyl parathion and fenthion have been prepared through a sol-gel polymerization method. The synthesis conditions, including the volume of cross-linker and the ratio of inorganic solution to organic solution, were optimized. The prepared monolithic column was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The eluent type, volume and flow rate, sample volume, flow rate, acidity and ionic strength were optimized in detail. Under the optimized conditions, a simple and sensitive pipette tip solid-phase extraction with high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the determination of methyl parathion and fenthion in lettuce. The method yielded a linear calibration curve in the concentration ranges of 15-400 μg/kg for methyl parathion and 20-400 μg/kg for fenthion with correlation coefficients of above 0.9957. The limits of detection were 4.5 μg/kg for methyl parathion and 6.0 μg/kg for fenthion, respectively. The recoveries of methyl parathion and fenthion spiked in lettuce ranged from 96.0 to 104.2% with relative standard deviations less than 8.4%. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  9. Polymer Crosslinked 3-D Assemblies of Nanoparticles: Mechanically Strong Lightweight Porous Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leventis, Nicholas

    2005-01-01

    In analogy to supramolecular assemblies, which are pursued because of properties above and beyond those of the individual molecules, self-standing monolithic three-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles also have unique properties attributed to their structure. For example, ultra low-density 3-D assemblies of silica nanoparticles, known as silica aerogels, are characterized by large internal void space, high surface area and very low thermal conductivity. Aerogels, however, are also extremely fragile materials, limiting their application to a few specialized environments, e.g., in nuclear reactors as Cerenkov radiation detectors, in space (refer to NASA's Stardust Program) and aboard certain planetary vehicles (thermal insulators on Mars Rovers in 1997 and 2004). The fragility problem is traced to well-defined weak points in the aerogel skeletal framework, the interparticle necks. Using the surface functionality of the nanoparticle building blocks as a focal point, we have directed attachment of a conformal polymer coating over the entire framework, rendering all necks wider. Thus, although the bulk density may increase only by 3x, the mesoporosity (pores in the range 2-50 nm) remains unchanged, while the strength of the material increases by up to 300... Having addressed the fragility problem, aerogels are now robust materials, and a variety of applications, ranging from thermal/acoustic insulators to catalyst supports, to platform for sensors, and dielectrics are all within reach. Our approach employs molecular science to manipulate nanoscopic matter for achieving useful macroscopic properties, and in our view it resides at the core of what defines nanotechnology. In that spirit, this technology is expandable in three directions. Thus, we have already crosslinked successfully amine-modified silica, and we anticipate that more rich chemistry will be realized by been creative with the nanoparticle surface modifiers. On the other hand, although we do not expect

  10. Spray freeze-dried nanofibrillated cellulose aerogels with thermal superinsulating properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-Saelices, Clara; Seantier, Bastien; Cathala, Bernard; Grohens, Yves

    2017-02-10

    Nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) aerogels were prepared by spray freeze-drying (SFD). Their structural, mechanical and thermal insulation properties were compared to those of NFC aerogels prepared by conventional freeze-drying (CFD). The purpose of this investigation is to develop superinsulating bioaerogels by reducing their pore size. Severe reduction of the aerogel pore size and skeleton architecture were observed by SEM, aerogels prepared by SFD method show a fibril skeleton morphology, which defines a mesoporous structure. BET analyses confirm the appearance of a new organization structure with pores of nanometric sizes. As a consequence, the thermal insulation properties were significantly improved for SFD materials compared to CFD aerogel, reaching values of thermal conductivity as low as 0.018W/(mK). Moreover, NFC aerogels have a thermal conductivity below that of air in ambient conditions, making them one of the best cellulose based thermal superinsulating material. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Aerogel sorbents

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Begag, Redouane; Rhine, Wendell E.; Dong, Wenting

    2018-04-03

    The current invention describes methods and compositions of various sorbents based on aerogels of various silanes and their use as sorbent for carbon dioxide. Methods further provide for optimizing the compositions to increase the stability of the sorbents for prolonged use as carbon dioxide capture matrices.

  12. Low dielectric constant and moisture-resistant polyimide aerogels containing trifluoromethyl pendent groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Tingting; Dong, Jie; Gan, Feng; Fang, Yuting; Zhao, Xin; Zhang, Qinghua

    2018-05-01

    Conventional polyimide aerogels made from biphenyl-3,3‧,4,4‧-tetracarboxylic dianydride (BPDA) and 4,4‧-oxidianiline (ODA) exhibit poor resistance to moisture and mechanical properties. In this work, a versatile diamine, 2,2‧-bis-(trifluoromethyl)-4,4‧-diaminobiphenyl (TFMB), is introduced to BPDA/ODA backbone to modify the comprehensive performance of this aerogel. Among all formulations, the resulted polyimide aerogels exhibit the lowest shrinkage and density as well as highest porosity, at the ODA/TFMB molar ratio of 5/5. Dielectric constants and loss tangents of the aerogels fall in the range of 1.29-1.33 and 0.001-0.004, respectively, and more TFMB fractions results in a slightly decrease of dielectric constant and loss tangent. In addition, moisture-resistance of the aerogels are dramatically enhanced as the water absorption decreasing from 415% for BPDA/ODA to 13% for the polyimide aerogel at the ODA/TFMB molar ratio of 7/3, and even to 4% for the homo-BPDA/TFMB polyimide aerogel, showing a superhydrophobic characteristic, which is a great advantage for polyimide aerogels used as low dielectric materials. Meanwhile, all of formulations of aerogels exhibit high absorption capacities for oils and common organic solvents, indicating that these fluorinated polyimide aerogels are good candidates for the separation of oils/organic solvents and water. Mechanical properties and thermal stability of the polyimide aerogels are also raised to varying degrees due to the rigid-rod biphenyl structure introduced by TFMB.

  13. Robust superhydrophobic bridged silsesquioxane aerogels with tunable performances and their applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhen; Wang, Dong; Qian, Zhenchao; Guo, Jing; Dong, Haixia; Zhao, Ning; Xu, Jian

    2015-01-28

    Aerogels are a family of highly porous materials whose applications are commonly restricted by poor mechanical properties. Herein, thiol-ene chemistry is employed to synthesize a series of novel bridged silsesquioxane (BSQ) precursors with various alkoxy groups. On the basis of the different hydrolyzing rates of the methoxy and ethoxy groups, robust superhydrophobic BSQ aerogels with tailorable morphology and mechanical performances have been prepared. The flexible thioether bridge contributes to the robustness of the as-formed aerogels, and the property can be tuned on the basis of the distinct combinations of alkoxy groups with the density of the aerogels almost unchanged. To the best of our knowledge, the lowest density among the ambient pressure dried aerogels is obtained. Further, potential application of the aerogels for oil/water separation and acoustic materials has also been presented.

  14. Carbon aerogel electrodes for direct energy conversion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Steven T.; Kaschmitter, James L.; Pekala, Richard W.

    1997-01-01

    A direct energy conversion device, such as a fuel cell, using carbon aerogel electrodes, wherein the carbon aerogel is loaded with a noble catalyst, such as platinum or rhodium and soaked with phosphoric acid, for example. A separator is located between the electrodes, which are placed in a cylinder having plate current collectors positioned adjacent the electrodes and connected to a power supply, and a pair of gas manifolds, containing hydrogen and oxygen positioned adjacent the current collectors. Due to the high surface area and excellent electrical conductivity of carbon aerogels, the problems relative to high polarization resistance of carbon composite electrodes conventionally used in fuel cells are overcome.

  15. Mechanically Strong Aerogels Formed by Templated Growth of Polymer Cross- Linkers on Inorganic Nanoparticles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leventis, Nicholas; Fabrizio, Eve F.; Johnston, Chris; Meador, Maryann

    2004-01-01

    In the search for materials with better mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, it is becoming evident that oftentimes dispersing ceramic nanoparticles in plastics improves performance. Along these lines, chemical bonding (both covalent and noncovalent) between a filler and a polymer improves their compatibility, and thus enhances certain properties of the polymeric matrix above and beyond what is accomplished by simple doping with the filler. When a similarly sized dopant and matrix are used, elementary building blocks may also have certain distinct advantages (e.g., in catalysis). In this context, researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center reasoned that in the extreme case, where the dopant and the matrix (e.g., a filler and a polymer) are not only sized similarly, but their relative amounts are comparable, the relative roles of the dopant and matrix can be reversed. Then, if the "filler," or a certain form thereof, possesses desirable properties of its own, such properties could be magnified by cross-linking with a polymer. We at Glenn have identified silica as such a filler in its lowest-density form, namely the silica aerogel.

  16. Affinity monolith chromatography: A review of general principles and applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhao; Rodriguez, Elliott; Azaria, Shiden; Pekarek, Allegra; Hage, David S

    2017-11-01

    Affinity monolith chromatography, or AMC, is a liquid chromatographic method in which the support is a monolith and the stationary phase is a biological-binding agent or related mimic. AMC has become popular for the isolation of biochemicals, for the measurement of various analytes, and for studying biological interactions. This review will examine the principles and applications of AMC. The materials that have been used to prepare AMC columns will be discussed, which have included various organic polymers, silica, agarose, and cryogels. Immobilization schemes that have been used in AMC will also be considered. Various binding agents and applications that have been reported for AMC will then be described. These applications will include the use of AMC for bioaffinity chromatography, immunoaffinity chromatography, dye-ligand affinity chromatography, and immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography. The use of AMC with chiral stationary phases and as a tool to characterize biological interactions will also be examined. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Magnetically separable mesoporous Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica catalysts with very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} content

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grau-Atienza, A.; Serrano, E.; Linares, N. [Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Alicante, Carretera San Vicente s/n, E-03690 Alicante (Spain); Svedlindh, P. [Department of Engineering Sciences, Uppsala University, Box 534, SE-75121 Uppsala (Sweden); Seisenbaeva, G., E-mail: Gulaim.Seisenbaeva@slu.se [Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, BioCenter SLU, Box 7015, SE-75007 Uppsala (Sweden); García-Martínez, J., E-mail: j.garcia@ua.es [Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Alicante, Carretera San Vicente s/n, E-03690 Alicante (Spain)

    2016-05-15

    Two magnetically separable Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} (aerogel and MSU-X) composites with very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} content (<1 wt%) have been successfully prepared at room temperature by co-condensation of MPTES-functionalized Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticles (NPs) with a silicon alkoxide. This procedure yields a homogeneous incorporation of the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs on silica supports, leading to magnetic composites that can be easily recovered using an external magnetic field, despite their very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs content (ca. 1 wt%). These novel hybrid Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} materials have been tested for the oxidation reaction of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) with hydrogen peroxide showing an enhancement of the stability of the NPs in the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica aerogel as compared to the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs alone, even after five catalytic cycles, no leaching or agglomeration of the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} systems. - Graphical abstract: Novel magnetically separable mesoporous silica-based composites with very low magnetite content. - Highlights: • An innovative way to prepare magnetically separable composites with <1 wt% NPs. • The Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica composites are readily magnetized/demagnetized. • The Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica composites can be easily recovered using an external magnetic field. • Excellent catalytic performance and recyclability despite the low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs content.

  18. Nonlinear hydrodynamic equations for superfluid helium in aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brusov, Peter N.; Brusov, Paul P.

    2003-01-01

    Aerogel in superfluids is studied very intensively during last decade. The importance of these systems is connected to the fact that this allows to investigate the influence of impurities on superfluidity. We have derived for the first time nonlinear hydrodynamic equations for superfluid helium in aerogel. These equations are generalization of McKenna et al. equations for nonlinear hydrodynamics case and could be used to study sound propagation phenomena in aerogel-superfluid system, in particular--to study sound conversion phenomena. We have obtained two alternative sets of equations, one of which is a generalization of a traditional set of nonlinear hydrodynamics equations for the case of an aerogel-superfluid system and, the other one represents a la Putterman equations (equation for v→ s is replaced by equation for A→=((ρ n )/(ρσ))w→, where w→=v→ n -v→ s )

  19. Study of ageing effects in aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Coluzza, C.; Longo, G.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Negri, P.; Perego, D.L.

    2004-01-01

    Ageing effects on aerogel due to irradiation and absorption of humidity have been investigated. Aerogel tiles have been exposed to γ radiation from a 60 Co source and to proton and neutron high intensity beams. The transmittance has been monitored in the wavelength range between 200 and 800 nm, determining the clarity factor C as a function of the increasing dose of irradiation. The index of refraction n was also measured

  20. Study of ageing effects in aerogel

    CERN Document Server

    Bellunato, T F; Coluzza, C; Longo, G; Matteuzzi, C; Musy, M; Negri, P; Perego, D L

    2004-01-01

    Ageing effects on aerogel due to irradiation and absorption of humidity have been investigated. Aerogel tiles have been exposed to gamma radiation from a 60-Co source and to proton and neutron high intensity beams. The transmittance has been monitored in the wavelength range between 200 nm and 800 nm, determining the clarity factor C as a function of the increasing dose of irradiation. The index of refraction n was also measured.

  1. Bluedec in product design: Isolatiemateriaal op basis van aerogel

    OpenAIRE

    Beurden, van, K.M.M. (Karin); Goselink, E.A. (Erik)

    2014-01-01

    Aerogel is een zeer kostbaar voor de ruimtevaart ontwikkeld basismateriaal. Bluedec is een isolatiemateriaal bestaande uit een non woven kunststof dat met deze aerogel geïmpregneerd is. Hierdoor ontstaat een zeer goed isolerend materiaal dat goedkoper is dan aerogel. De warmtegeleidingscoëfficiënt van Bluedec in de basisuitvoering is 0,0135 W/m*K . Dat is lager dan conventionele isolatiematerialen, zie ook pagina 4. Voordeel hiervan is dat vergelijkbare of betere warmte-isolati...

  2. Iminodiacetic acid functionalised organopolymer monoliths: application to the separation of metal cations by capillary high-performance chelation ion chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moyna, Áine; Connolly, Damian; Nesterenko, Ekaterina; Nesterenko, Pavel N; Paull, Brett

    2013-03-01

    Lauryl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate monoliths were polymerised within fused silica capillaries and subsequently photo-grafted with varying amounts of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). The grafted monoliths were then further modified with iminodiacetic acid (IDA), resulting in a range of chelating ion-exchange monoliths of increasing capacity. The IDA functional groups were attached via ring opening of the epoxy group on the poly(GMA) structure. Increasing the amount of attached poly(GMA), via photo-grafting with increasing concentrations of GMA, from 15 to 35%, resulted in a proportional and controlled increase in the complexation capacity of the chelating monoliths. Scanning capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (sC(4)D) was used to characterise and verify homogenous distribution of the chelating ligand along the length of the capillaries non-invasively. Chelation ion chromatographic separations of selected transition and heavy metals were carried out, with retention factor data proportional to the concentration of grafted poly(GMA). Average peak efficiencies of close to 5,000 N/m were achieved, with the isocratic separation of Na, Mg(II), Mn(II), Co(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) possible on a 250-mm-long monolith. Multiple monolithic columns produced to the same recipes gave RSD data for retention factors of ions). The monolithic chelating ion-exchanger was applied to the separation of alkaline earth and transition metal ions spiked in natural and potable waters.

  3. Synthesis and Characterization Carbon Nanotubes Doped Carbon Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yuelong; Yan, Meifang; Liu, Zhenfa

    2017-12-01

    Polycondensation of phloroglucinol, resorcinol and formaldehyde with carbon nanotube (CNT) as the additives, using sodium carbonate as the catalyst, leads to the formation of CNT - doped carbon aerogels. The structure of carbon aerogels (CAs) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The specific surface area, pore size distribution and pore volume were measured by surface area analyzer. The results show that when the optimum doping dosage is 5%, the specific surface area of CNT - doped carbon aerogel is up to 665 m2 g-1 and exhibit plentiful mesoporous.

  4. Monoliths in Bioprocess Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vignesh Rajamanickam

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Monolithic columns are a special type of chromatography column, which can be used for the purification of different biomolecules. They have become popular due to their high mass transfer properties and short purification times. Several articles have already discussed monolith manufacturing, as well as monolith characteristics. In contrast, this review focuses on the applied aspect of monoliths and discusses the most relevant biomolecules that can be successfully purified by them. We describe success stories for viruses, nucleic acids and proteins and compare them to conventional purification methods. Furthermore, the advantages of monolithic columns over particle-based resins, as well as the limitations of monoliths are discussed. With a compilation of commercially available monolithic columns, this review aims at serving as a ‘yellow pages’ for bioprocess engineers who face the challenge of purifying a certain biomolecule using monoliths.

  5. Synthesis of ZnO-CuO Nanocomposite Aerogels by the Sol-Gel Route

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rula M. Allaf

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The epoxide addition sol-gel method has been utilized to synthesize porous zinc-copper composite aerogels in the zinc-to-copper molar ratios of 50 : 50 to 90 : 10. A two-step mixing approach has been employed to produce aerogels composed of nano- to micrometer sized particles. The aerogels were characterized by ultrahigh resolution scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction. The as-synthesized aerogels had a thin flake- or petal-like microstructure comprised of clustered flakes on two size scales; they were identified as being crystalline with the crystalline species identified as copper nitrate hydroxide, zinc hydroxide chloride hydrate, and zinc hydroxide nitrate hydrate. Annealing of the aerogel materials at a relatively low temperature (400°C resulted in a complete phase transition of the material to give highly crystalline ZnO-CuO aerogels; the aerogels consisted of networked nanoparticles in the ~25–550 nm size range with an average crystallite size of ~3 nm and average crystallinity of 98%. ZnO-CuO aerogels are of particular interest due to their particular catalytic and sensing properties. This work emphasizes the versatility of this sol-gel route in synthesizing aerogels; this method offers a possible route for the fabrication of aerogels of different metal oxides and their composites.

  6. Aerogel Antennas Communications Study Using Error Vector Magnitude Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Felix A.; Mueller, Carl H.; Meador, Mary Ann B.

    2014-01-01

    This presentation discusses an aerogel antennas communication study using error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements. The study was performed using 2x4 element polyimide (PI) aerogel-based phased arrays designed for operation at 5 GHz as transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) antennas separated by a line of sight (LOS) distance of 8.5 meters. The results of the EVM measurements demonstrate that polyimide aerogel antennas work appropriately to support digital communication links with typically used modulation schemes such as QPSK and 4 DQPSK. As such, PI aerogel antennas with higher gain, larger bandwidth and lower mass than typically used microwave laminates could be suitable to enable aerospace-to- ground communication links with enough channel capacity to support voice, data and video links from CubeSats, unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and commercial aircraft.

  7. Aerogel Antennas Communications Study Using Error Vector Magnitude Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Felix A.; Mueller, Carl H.; Meador, Mary Ann B.

    2014-01-01

    This paper discusses an aerogel antennas communication study using error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements. The study was performed using 4x2 element polyimide (PI) aerogel-based phased arrays designed for operation at 5 GHz as transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) antennas separated by a line of sight (LOS) distance of 8.5 meters. The results of the EVM measurements demonstrate that polyimide aerogel antennas work appropriately to support digital communication links with typically used modulation schemes such as QPSK and pi/4 DQPSK. As such, PI aerogel antennas with higher gain, larger bandwidth and lower mass than typically used microwave laminates could be suitable to enable aerospace-to-ground communication links with enough channel capacity to support voice, data and video links from cubesats, unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and commercial aircraft.

  8. Silica particles encapsulated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) monolithic stationary phases for micro-high performance liquid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakry, R; Stöggl, W M; Hochleitner, E O; Stecher, G; Huck, C W; Bonn, G K

    2006-11-03

    In the paper we demonstrate a new approach for the preparation and application of continuous silica bed columns that involve encapsulation (entrapment) of functionalized silica microparticles, which can be used as packing material in micro high performance liquid chromatography (micro-HPLC) and capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Like traditional packed columns, these capillaries possess characterized silica particles that offer high phase ratio and narrow pore size distribution leading to high retention and separation efficiency, respectively. More importantly, immobilization of the microparticles stabilizes the separation bed and eliminates the need for retaining frits. The developed capillary columns were fabricated in exactly the same way as a packed capillary column (slurry packing) but with an additional entrapment step. This immobilization of the packed bed was achieved by in situ polymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene in presence of decanol as a porogen and azobisisobutyronitrile as thermal initiator. Silica particles with different particle sizes and pore sizes ranging from 60 to 4000 A were studied. In addition different modified silica was used, including C-18 reversed phase, anion exchange and chiral stationary phases. Efficient separation of polyphenolic compounds, peptides, proteins and even DNA mutation were achieved using the developed technique depending on the properties of the silica particles used (particles pore size). For example, using 3 microm ProntoSIL C-18 particles with 300 A pore size, separation efficiencies in the range of 120,000-200,000 plates/m were obtained for protein separation, in a 6 cm x 200 microm i.d. capillary column. Using encapsulated silica C-18 with 1000 A pore size, separation of DNA homo and hetero duplexes were achieved under denaturing HPLC conditions for mutation detection. In addition, nucleotides were separated using anion exchange material encapsulated with poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) (PS/DVB), which

  9. Property control of graphene aerogels by in situ growth of silicone polymer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Shuai; Zhou, Xiang; Hao, Gazi; Jiang, Wei; Wang, Tianhe

    2018-05-01

    Modulation of the density (from 3.5 to 64 mg cm-3), hydrophobicity and oil-uptake capability of graphene aerogels in extensive ranges were achieved by reacting (3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPS) with graphene oxide solutions under heating. The reaction allowed a characteristic silicone substructure to be formed on graphene and joint the graphene layers firmly together. With the increase of MPS concentrations (≤ca. 0.2 vol%), the nano silicone polymer grown on graphene functioned as a "linker" and "spacer", leading to a substantial decrease of the aerogel density. Because of the formation of silicone polymer and the characteristic nano-micro substructures on the backbones of graphene aerogels, the graphene aerogels exhibited a high hydrophobicity with the water contact angle consistently exceeding 142 degrees. Functionalized graphene aerogels with a density of 3.5 mg cm-3 were conveniently fabricated that displayed an extraordinary oil absorption capacity, 182 times for lubricating oil and 143 times for n-hexane of its own weight. Furthermore, the aerogels maintained their ultra-high absorption capability even after 20 absorption-distillation cycles, due to structural integrity held by the strong interfacial adhesion between graphene sheets and polymer chains of aerogels. This study offers a promising graphene aerogels and also provides a strategy for fabricating extra low dense functional materials.

  10. A pure silica ytterbium-doped sol–gel-based fiber laser

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baz, Assaad; El Hamzaoui, Hicham; Fsaifes, Ihsan; Bouwmans, Géraud; Bouazaoui, Mohamed; Bigot, Laurent

    2013-01-01

    In this letter it is demonstrated that the sol–gel route combined with fiber fabrication by the stack and draw method can be used to realize efficient fiber lasers. More precisely, a pure silica ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber with a core obtained by the sol–gel polymeric technique is studied, and a laser efficiency of more than 73% is achieved for a laser emission around 1034 nm. The optical and spectroscopic properties of the monolith and fiber are investigated, together with the sensitivity of the fiber to photodarkening. The dimensions of the ytterbium-doped monolith combined with the uniform doping and refractive index that are reported make this technique particularly interesting for the realization of large-mode area fibers. (letter)

  11. Test of aerogel as Cherenkov radiator

    CERN Document Server

    Alemi, M; Calvi, M; Matteuzzi, C; Negri, P; Paganoni, M; Liko, D; Neufeld, N; Chesi, Enrico Guido; Joram, C; Séguinot, Jacques; Ypsilantis, Thomas

    2001-01-01

    Two different stacks of aerogel were tested in a pion/proton beam of momentum between 3 and 10 GeV/c. The optical characteristics of the aerogel samples were different: one sample was hygroscopic while the other was hydrophobic. Two HPD tubes were used as photodetectors, and different thicknesses of the stacks were used, in order to determine the photoelectron yield, the Cherenkov angle and its precision. Pion/proton separation has been demonstrated at momenta up to 10 GeV/c.

  12. Preparation of lignin-based carbon aerogels as biomaterials for nano-supercapacitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bong Suk; Kang, Kyu-Young; Jeong, Myung-Joon

    2017-10-01

    Kraft and organosolv lignins, generally produced in chemical pulping and bio-refinery processes of lignocellulosic biomass, were used to prepare lignin-based carbon aerogels for supercapacitors as raw materials. The difference between lignins and lignin-based aerogels were compared by analyzing physical and chemical properties, including molecular weight, polydispersity, and reactivity with formaldehyde. Also, density, shrinkage, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the lignin-based aerogel were investigated. Kraft lignin consisting of coniferyl alcohol (G) and p-coumaryl alcohol (H) increased the reactivity of formaldehyde, formed a hydrogel well (porosity > 0.45), and specific surface area higher than organosolv lignin. In the case of kraft lignin, there were irregular changes such as oxidation and condensation in the pulping process. However, reaction sites with aromatic rings in lignin impacted the production of aerogel and required a long gelation period. The molecular weight of lignin influences the gelation time in producing lignin-based aerogel, and lignin composition affects the BET surface area and pore structures of the lignin-based carbon aerogels.

  13. Van der Waal Interactions in Ultrafine Nanocellulose Aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritch, Byron; Bradley, Derek; Kidd, Tim

    Nanocellulose aerogels have shown an ability to be used in many different applications ranging from oil sponges to conductive materials to possibly a low calorie food substitute. Not much is known about the structural and physical property changes that occur when the composition of the aerogel changes. We studied what properties change when the aerogel amounts change, as well as how sticky the aerogels are and how strong they are. The higher concentrations appeared to have more plate-like structures while the lower concentrations had a more fibrous material. These fibers in the low concentrations had a smaller diameter than a human hair. Only the low concentration aerogels were able to stick to a glass surface in the adhesion test, but were able to support a mass much larger than their own. These low concentrations also would stick to your finger when lightly touched. Preliminary tests show that a concentration that is not too low, but not too high, is best for tensile strength. All concentrations were able to hold many times their own mass. Cellulose should be studied more because it is a renewable material and is easily accessed. Nanocellulose is also not environmentally dangerous allowing it to be used in applications involving humans and the environment like noted above. National Science Foundation Grant DMR-1410496.

  14. Plasmonic Aerogels as a Three-Dimensional Nanoscale Platform for Solar Fuel Photocatalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSario, Paul A; Pietron, Jeremy J; Dunkelberger, Adam; Brintlinger, Todd H; Baturina, Olga; Stroud, Rhonda M; Owrutsky, Jeffrey C; Rolison, Debra R

    2017-09-19

    We use plasmonic Au-TiO 2 aerogels as a platform in which to marry synthetically thickened particle-particle junctions in TiO 2 aerogel networks to Au∥TiO 2 interfaces and then investigate their cooperative influence on photocatalytic hydrogen (H 2 ) generation under both broadband (i.e., UV + visible light) and visible-only excitation. In doing so, we elucidate the dual functions that incorporated Au can play as a water reduction cocatalyst and as a plasmonic sensitizer. We also photodeposit non-plasmonic Pt cocatalyst nanoparticles into our composite aerogels in order to leverage the catalytic water-reducing abilities of Pt. This Au-TiO 2 /Pt arrangement in three dimensions effectively utilizes conduction-band electrons injected into the TiO 2 aerogel network upon exciting the Au SPR at the Au∥TiO 2 interface. The extensive nanostructured high surface-area oxide network in the aerogel provides a matrix that spatially separates yet electrochemically connects plasmonic nanoparticle sensitizers and metal nanoparticle catalysts, further enhancing solar-fuels photochemistry. We compare the photocatalytic rates of H 2 generation with and without Pt cocatalysts added to Au-TiO 2 aerogels and demonstrate electrochemical linkage of the SPR-generated carriers at the Au∥TiO 2 interfaces to downfield Pt nanoparticle cocatalysts. Finally, we investigate visible light-stimulated generation of conduction band electrons in Au-TiO 2 and TiO 2 aerogels using ultrafast visible pump/IR probe spectroscopy. Substantially more electrons are produced at Au-TiO 2 aerogels due to the incorporated SPR-active Au nanoparticle, whereas the smaller population of electrons generated at Au-free TiO 2 aerogels likely originate at shallow traps in the high surface-area mesoporous aerogel.

  15. Highly porous ceramic oxide aerogels having improved flexibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meador, Mary Ann B. (Inventor); Nguyen, Baochau N. (Inventor); Guo, Haiquan (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    Ceramic oxide aerogels having improved flexibility are disclosed. Preferred embodiments exhibit high modulus and other strength properties despite their improved flexibility. The gels may be polymer cross-linked via organic polymer chains to further improve strength properties, without substantially detracting from the improved flexibility. Methods of making such aerogels are also disclosed.

  16. Fast preparation of hybrid monolithic columns via photo-initiated thiol-yne polymerization for capillary liquid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Shujuan; Zhang, Haiyang; Li, Ya; Li, Yanan; Zhang, Na; Ou, Junjie; Ye, Mingliang; Wei, Yinmao

    2018-02-23

    Although several approaches have been developed to fabricate hybrid monoliths, it would still take a few hours to finish the formation of monoliths. Herein, photo-initiated thiol-yne polymerization was first adopted to in situ fabricate hybrid monoliths within the confines of UV-transparent fused-silica capillary. A silicon-containing diyne (1,3-diethynyltetramethyl-disiloxane, DYDS) was copolymerized with three multithiols, 1,6-hexanedithiol, trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) and pentaerythriol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate), by using a binary porogenic system of diethylene glycol diethyl ether (DEGDE)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG200) within 10 min. Several characterizations of three hybrid monoliths (assigned as I, II and III, respectively) were performed. The results showed that these hybrid monoliths possessed bicontinuous porous structure, which was remarkably different from that via typical free-radical polymerization. The highest column efficiency of 76,000 plates per meter for butylbenzene was obtained on the column I in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). It was observed that the efficiencies for strong-retained butylbenzene were almost close to those of weak-retained benzene, indicating a retention-independent efficient performance of small molecules on hybrid column I. The surface area of this hybrid monolith was very small in the dry state (less than 10.0 m 2 /g), and the chromatographic behavior of hybrid monolithic columns would be possibly explained by radical-mediated step-growth process of thiol-yne polymerization. Finally, the column I was applied for separation of BSA tryptic digest by cLC-MS/MS, indicating satisfactory separation ability for complicated samples. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Highly transparent, flexible, and thermally stable superhydrophobic ORMOSIL aerogel thin films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budunoglu, Hulya; Yildirim, Adem; Guler, Mustafa O; Bayindir, Mehmet

    2011-02-01

    We report preparation of highly transparent, flexible, and thermally stable superhydrophobic organically modified silica (ORMOSIL) aerogel thin films from colloidal dispersions at ambient conditions. The prepared dispersions are suitable for large area processing with ease of coating and being directly applicable without requiring any pre- or post-treatment on a variety of surfaces including glass, wood, and plastics. ORMOSIL films exhibit and retain superhydrophobic behavior up to 500 °C and even on bent flexible substrates. The surface of the films can be converted from superhydrophobic (contact angle of 179.9°) to superhydrophilic (contact angle of <5°) by calcination at high temperatures. The wettability of the coatings can be changed by tuning the calcination temperature and duration. The prepared films also exhibit low refractive index and high porosity making them suitable as multifunctional coatings for many application fields including solar cells, flexible electronics, and lab on papers.

  18. Effect of catalyst on melamine-formaldehyde organic aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Zhipeng; Yang Xi; Fu Zhibing; Zhong Minglong; Wang Chaoyang; Ma Kangfu; Huang Xiaoli; Chang Lijuan

    2013-01-01

    A series of melamine-formaldehyde(MF) organic aerogel templates were prepared with different categories and concentration of catalyst. Their molecular structure, thermal stability and pore structure were tested by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and nitrogen adsorption. It is indicated that the type and concentration of catalyst do not affect molecular structure and thermal stability of the MF organic aerogel template. The specific surface area and pore volume of the MF organic aerogel template using Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst are higher than those using NaOH, NaHCO 3 as catalyst. When the ratio of the concentration of melamine to that of catalyst is 500, the specific surface area is maximized. (authors)

  19. Ag nanoparticles hosted in monolithic mesoporous silica by thermal decomposition method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Wei; Zhang Junying

    2003-01-01

    Ag nanoparticles were obtained by thermal decomposition of silver nitrate within pores of mesoporous silica. Microstructure of this composite was examined by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Optical measurements for the nanocomposite show that Ag particle doping leads to a large red shift of the absorption edge

  20. The RICH with Aerogel for the LHCb Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Bellunato, T; Matteuzzi, C; Musy, M; Negri, P; Perego, D L

    2006-01-01

    We report on the status of the art of the aerogel project for LHCb, from the production, in terms of specifications and achieved quality, to the optical and beam tests performed to qualify the material as a Cherenkov radiator. A brief summary of the ageing and radiation tolerance tests performed on some aerogel tiles is also given.

  1. The RICH with Aerogel for the LHCb Experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Negri, P.; Perego, D.L.

    2006-01-01

    We report on the status of the art of the aerogel project for LHCb, from the production, in terms of specifications and achieved quality, to the optical and beam tests performed to qualify the material as a Cherenkov radiator. A brief summary of the ageing and radiation tolerance tests performed on some aerogel tiles is also given

  2. Ultralight Graphene/Carbon Nanotubes Aerogels with Compressibility and Oil Absorption Properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Da Zhao

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Graphene aerogels have many advantages, such as low density, high elasticity and strong adsorption. They are considered to be widely applicable in many fields. At present, the most valuable research area aims to find a convenient and effective way to prepare graphene aerogels with excellent properties. In this work graphene/carbon nanotube aerogels are prepared through hydrothermal reduction, freeze-drying and high temperature heat treatment with the blending of graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. A new reducing agent-ascorbic acid is selected to explore the best preparation process. The prepared aerogels have compression and resilience and oil absorption properties due to the addition of carbon nanotubes as designed.

  3. Organic aerogels from the sol-gel polymerization of phenolic-furfural mixtures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pekala, R.W.

    1995-12-19

    The sol-gel polymerization of a phenolic-furfural mixture in dilute solution leads to a highly cross-linked network that can be supercritically dried to form a high surface area foam. These porous materials have cell/pore sizes{<=}1000{angstrom}, and although they are dark brown in color, they can be classified as a new type of aerogel. The phenolic-furfural aerogel can be pyrolyzed in an inert atmosphere at 1050 C to produce carbon aerogels. This new aerogel may be used for thermal insulation, chromatographic packing, water filtration, ion-exchange, and carbon electrodes for energy storage devices, such as batteries and double-layer capacitors. 8 figs.

  4. Efficiently dense hierarchical graphene based aerogel electrode for supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin; Lu, Chengxing; Peng, Huifen; Zhang, Xin; Wang, Zhenkun; Wang, Gongkai

    2016-08-01

    Boosting gravimetric and volumetric capacitances simultaneously at a high rate is still a discrepancy in development of graphene based supercapacitors. We report the preparation of dense hierarchical graphene/activated carbon composite aerogels via a reduction induced self-assembly process coupled with a drying post treatment. The compact and porous structures of composite aerogels could be maintained. The drying post treatment has significant effects on increasing the packing density of aerogels. The introduced activated carbons play the key roles of spacers and bridges, mitigating the restacking of adjacent graphene nanosheets and connecting lateral and vertical graphene nanosheets, respectively. The optimized aerogel with a packing density of 0.67 g cm-3 could deliver maximum gravimetric and volumetric capacitances of 128.2 F g-1 and 85.9 F cm-3, respectively, at a current density of 1 A g-1 in aqueous electrolyte, showing no apparent degradation to the specific capacitance at a current density of 10 A g-1 after 20000 cycles. The corresponding gravimetric and volumetric capacitances of 116.6 F g-1 and 78.1 cm-3 with an acceptable cyclic stability are also achieved in ionic liquid electrolyte. The results show a feasible strategy of designing dense hierarchical graphene based aerogels for supercapacitors.

  5. Adsorption and desorption of cationic malachite green dye on cellulose nanofibril aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Feng; Dinh, Darren M; Hsieh, You-Lo

    2017-10-01

    Ultra-light aerogels have been assembled from cellulose nanofibrils into hierarchically macroporous (several hundred μm) honeycomb cellular structure surrounded with mesoporous (8-60nm) thin walls. The high specific surface (193m 2 /g) and surface carboxyl content (1.29mmol/g) of these aerogels were demonstrated to be highly capable of removing cationic malachite green (MG) dye from aqueous media. The rapid MG adsorption was driven by electrostatic interactions and followed a pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic and monolayer Langmuir adsorption isotherm. At a low 1:5mg/mL aerogel/MG ratio, both initial MG adsorption rate (2.3-59.8mgg -1 min -1 ) and equilibrium adsorption capacity (53.0-203.7mgg -1 ) increased with increasing initial MG concentrations from 10 to 200mg/L, reaching a maximum adsorption of 212.7mgg -1 . The excellent dye removal efficiency was demonstrated by complete MG removal through four repetitive adsorptions at a low 1:5mg/mL aerogel/MG ratio and 10mg/L dye concentration as well as 92% MG adsorption in a single batch at one order of magnitude higher10:5mg/mL aerogel/MG ratio and 100mg/L dye concentration. The adsorbed MG in aerogels could be desorbed in aqueous media by increasing ionic strength, demonstrating facile recovery of both dye and aerogel as well as the robust capability of this aerogel for repetitive applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Green synthesis of hybrid graphene oxide/microcrystalline cellulose aerogels and their use as superabsorbents

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wei, Xiao; Huang, Ting; Yang, Jing-hui; Zhang, Nan; Wang, Yong, E-mail: yongwang1976@163.com; Zhou, Zuo-wan

    2017-08-05

    Highlights: • Hybrid GO/MCC aerogels were prepared using LiBr aqueous solution as the solvent. • GO was exfoliated by MCC through the strong interaction between them. • The adsorption ability of GO per unit mass in the hybrid aerogels was greatly enhanced. - Abstract: In this work, we developed a green synthesis method to prepare the hybrid aerogels containing graphene oxide (GO) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) using lithium bromide (LiBr) aqueous solution as the solvent, which insured the complete dissolution of MCC. The interaction between GO and MCC was investigated through different methods The results demonstrate that there is a strong interaction between GO and MCC molecules, which promotes the exfoliation of GO in the hybrid aerogels. The hybrid GO/MCC aerogels exhibit typical three dimensional porous structure and the pore morphology can be well adjusted by changing the content of GO. The adsorption ability of the hybrid aerogels was measured using methylene blue (MB) as an adsorbate. The results show that the adsorption ability of GO per unit mass is greatly enhanced compared with the pure GO aerogel, especially at relatively low GO content the adsorption amount of GO per unit mass is enhanced up to 2630 mg/g. Further results demonstrate that the hybrid GO/MCC aerogels still obey the pseudo-second-order adsorption model, which is similar to that of the pure GO aerogel. The mechanism for the amplified adsorption ability of GO in the hybrid GO/MCC aerogels is then analyzed.

  7. Green synthesis of hybrid graphene oxide/microcrystalline cellulose aerogels and their use as superabsorbents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Xiao; Huang, Ting; Yang, Jing-hui; Zhang, Nan; Wang, Yong; Zhou, Zuo-wan

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Hybrid GO/MCC aerogels were prepared using LiBr aqueous solution as the solvent. • GO was exfoliated by MCC through the strong interaction between them. • The adsorption ability of GO per unit mass in the hybrid aerogels was greatly enhanced. - Abstract: In this work, we developed a green synthesis method to prepare the hybrid aerogels containing graphene oxide (GO) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) using lithium bromide (LiBr) aqueous solution as the solvent, which insured the complete dissolution of MCC. The interaction between GO and MCC was investigated through different methods The results demonstrate that there is a strong interaction between GO and MCC molecules, which promotes the exfoliation of GO in the hybrid aerogels. The hybrid GO/MCC aerogels exhibit typical three dimensional porous structure and the pore morphology can be well adjusted by changing the content of GO. The adsorption ability of the hybrid aerogels was measured using methylene blue (MB) as an adsorbate. The results show that the adsorption ability of GO per unit mass is greatly enhanced compared with the pure GO aerogel, especially at relatively low GO content the adsorption amount of GO per unit mass is enhanced up to 2630 mg/g. Further results demonstrate that the hybrid GO/MCC aerogels still obey the pseudo-second-order adsorption model, which is similar to that of the pure GO aerogel. The mechanism for the amplified adsorption ability of GO in the hybrid GO/MCC aerogels is then analyzed.

  8. Preparation and evaluation of a novel hybrid monolithic column based on pentafluorobenzyl imidazolium bromide ionic liquid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, Yuanhong; Qiao, Lizhen; Shi, Xianzhe; Xu, Guowang

    2015-01-02

    To develop a novel hybrid monolithic column based on pentafluorobenzyl imidazolium bromide ionic liquid, a new ionic liquid monomer was synthesized from 1-vinylimidazole and pentafluorobenzyl bromide. By employing a facile one-step copolymerization of polyhedral-oligomeric-silsesquioxane-type (POSS) cross-linking agent and the home-made ionic liquid monomer, the hybrid monolithic columns were in situ fabricated in fused-silica capillary. The morphology of monolithic column was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the chemical composition was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and elemental analysis. Excellent mechanical stability and slight swelling propensity were exhibited which was ascribed to the rigid hybrid monolithic skeleton. Reproducibility results of run-to-run, column-to-column, batch-to-batch and day-to-day were investigated and the RSDs were less than 0.46%, 1.84%, 3.96% and 3.17%, respectively. The mixed-mode retention mechanism with hydrophobic interaction, π-π stacking, ion-exchange, electrostatic interaction and dipole-dipole interaction was explored systematically using analytes with different structure types. Satisfied separation capability and column efficiency were achieved for the analysis of small molecular compounds such as alkylbenzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nucleosides and halogenated compounds. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Chromatographic selectivity of poly(alkyl methacrylate-co-divinylbenzene) monolithic columns for polar aromatic compounds by pressure-driven capillary liquid chromatography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Shu-Ling; Wang, Chih-Chieh; Fuh, Ming-Ren, E-mail: msfuh@scu.edu.tw

    2016-10-05

    In this study, divinylbenzene (DVB) was used as the cross-linker to prepare alkyl methacrylate (AlMA) monoliths for incorporating π-π interactions between the aromatic analytes and AlMA-DVB monolithic stationary phases in capillary LC analysis. Various AlMA/DVB ratios were investigated to prepare a series of 30% AlMA-DVB monolithic stationary phases in fused-silica capillaries (250-μm i.d.). The physical properties (such as porosity, permeability, and column efficiency) of the synthesized AlMA-DVB monolithic columns were investigated for characterization. Isocratic elution of phenol derivatives was first employed to evaluate the suitability of the prepared AlMA-DVB columns for small molecule separation. The run-to-run (0.16–1.20%, RSD; n = 3) and column-to-column (0.26–2.95%, RSD; n = 3) repeatabilities on retention times were also examined using the selected AlMA-DVB monolithic columns. The π-π interactions between the aromatic ring and the DVB-based stationary phase offered better recognition on polar analytes with aromatic moieties, which resulted in better separation resolution of aromatic analytes on the AlMA-DVB monolithic columns. In order to demonstrate the capability of potential environmental and/or food safety applications, eight phenylurea herbicides with single benzene ring and seven sulfonamide antibiotics with polyaromatic moieties were analyzed using the selected AlMA-DVB monolithic columns. - Highlights: • First investigation on chromatographic selectivity of AlMA-DVB monolithic columns. • Good run-to-run/column-to-column repeatability (<3%) on AlMA-DVB monolithic columns. • Efficient separation of phenylurea herbicides and sulfonamides on AlMA-DVB columns.

  10. Aerogel and xerogel composites for use as carbon anodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, John F [Oakland, CA; Tillotson, Thomas M [Tracy, CA; Hrubesh, Lawrence W [Pleasanton, CA

    2008-08-12

    Disclosed herein are aerogel and xerogel composite materials suitable for use as anodes in fuel cells and batteries. Precursors to the aerogel and xerogel compounds are infused with inorganic polymeric materials or carbon particles and then gelled. The gels are then pyrolyzed to form composites with internal structural support.

  11. Extraction of amino acids from aerogel for analysis by capillary electrophoresis. Implications for a mission concept to Enceladus' Plume.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mora, Maria F; Jones, Steve M; Creamer, Jessica; Willis, Peter A

    2018-02-01

    Ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus in the outer solar system are prime targets in the search for life beyond Earth. Enceladus is particularly interesting due to the presence of a water plume ejecting from the south polar region. The recent discovery of H 2 in the plume, in addition to the presence of previously observed organic compounds, highlights the possibility of life in this moon. The plume provides materials from the underlying ocean that could be collected simply by flying through it. The presence of the plume means that material from the ocean is available for collection during a flyby, without the need for landing or complex sample handling operations such as scooping or drilling. An attractive approach to preserve the organics in particles collected during flyby encounters would be to utilize silica aerogel, the material used to collect particles at hypervelocity during the Stardust mission. Here we demonstrate amino acids can be extracted from aerogel simply by adding water. This simple liquid extraction method could be implemented during a mission prior to analysis with a liquid-based technique like capillary electrophoresis. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. Preparation of a long-alkyl-chain-based hybrid monolithic column with mixed-mode interactions using a "one-pot" process for pressurized capillary electrochromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyu, Haixia; Zhao, Heqing; Qin, Wenfei; Xie, Zenghong

    2017-12-01

    A simple "one-pot" approach for the preparation of a new vinyl-functionalized organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic column is described. In this improved method, the hydrolyzed alkoxysilanes of tetramethoxysilane and triethoxyvinylsilane were used as precursors for the synthesis of a silica-based monolith, while 1-hexadecene and sodium ethylenesulfonate were used as vinyl functional monomers along with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The effects of reaction temperature, urea content, and composition of organic monomers on the column properties (e.g. morphology, mechanical stability, and chromatographic performance) were investigated. The monolithic column was used for the separation of neutral solutes by reversed-phase pressurized capillary. Furthermore, the monolith can separate various aromatic amines, which indicated its excellent cation-exchange capability and hydrophobic interactions. The baseline separation of the aromatic amines was obtained with a column efficiency of up to 78 000 plates/m. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  13. Methods for controlling pore morphology in aerogels using electric fields and products thereof

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worsley, Marcus A.; Baumann, Theodore F.; Satcher, Jr., Joe H.; Olson, Tammy Y.; Kuntz, Joshua D.; Rose, Klint A.

    2017-12-16

    In one embodiment, an aerogel or xerogel includes column structures of a material having minor pores therein and major pores devoid of the material positioned between the column structures, where longitudinal axes of the major pores are substantially parallel to one another. In another embodiment, a method includes heating a sol including aerogel or xerogel precursor materials to cause gelation thereof to form an aerogel or xerogel and exposing the heated sol to an electric field, wherein the electric field causes orientation of a microstructure of the sol during gelation, which is retained by the aerogel or xerogel. In one approach, an aerogel has elongated pores extending between a material arranged in column structures having structural characteristics of being formed from a sol exposed to an electric field that causes orientation of a microstructure of the sol during gelation which is retained by the elongated pores of the aerogel.

  14. Highly Porous, Rigid-Rod Polyamide Aerogels with Superior Mechanical Properties and Unusually High Thermal Conductivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Jarrod C; Nguyen, Baochau N; McCorkle, Linda; Scheiman, Daniel; Griffin, Justin S; Steiner, Stephen A; Meador, Mary Ann B

    2017-01-18

    We report here the fabrication of polyamide aerogels composed of poly-p-phenylene-terephthalamide, the same backbone chemistry as DuPont's Kevlar. The all-para-substituted polymers gel without the use of cross-linker and maintain their shape during processing-an improvement over the meta-substituted cross-linked polyamide aerogels reported previously. Solutions containing calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) and para-phenylenediamine (pPDA) in N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) at low temperature are reacted with terephthaloyl chloride (TPC). Polymerization proceeds over the course of 5 min resulting in gelation. Removal of the reaction solvent via solvent exchange followed by extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide provides aerogels with densities ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 g/cm 3 , depending on the concentration of calcium chloride, the formulated number of repeat units, n, and the concentration of polymer in the reaction mixture. These variables were assessed in a statistical experimental study to understand their effects on the properties of the aerogels. Aerogels made using at least 30 wt % CaCl 2 had the best strength when compared to aerogels of similar density. Furthermore, aerogels made using 30 wt % CaCl 2 exhibited the lowest shrinkage when aged at elevated temperatures. Notably, whereas most aerogel materials are highly insulating (thermal conductivities of 10-30 mW/m K), the polyamide aerogels produced here exhibit remarkably high thermal conductivities (50-80 mW/(m K)) at the same densities as other inorganic and polymer aerogels. These high thermal conductivities are attributed to efficient phonon transport by the rigid-rod polymer backbone. In conjunction with their low cost, ease of fabrication with respect to other polymer aerogels, low densities, and high mass-normalized strength and stiffness properties, these aerogels are uniquely valuable for applications such as lightweighting in consumer electronics, automobiles, and aerospace where weight reduction is

  15. Performance of aerogel as Cherenkov radiator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Negri, P.; Braem, A.; Chesi, E.; Hansen, C.; Liko, D.; Joram, C.; Neufeld, N.; Seguinot, J.; Weilhammer, P.; Buzykaev, A.R.; Kravchenko, E.A.; Onuchin, A.P.; Danilyuk, A.F.; Easo, S.; Wotton, S.; Jolly, S.

    2004-01-01

    Aerogel with index of refraction around 1.03 has been studied as Cherenkov radiator in a test at CERN PS using a π - and a mixed π + /p beam of momenta between 6 and 10 GeV/c. The Cherenkov photons were detected by means of four large HPD tubes designed and constructed at CERN. Results on the photoelectron yield, the Cherenkov angle and its resolution, and the π/p separation are obtained. The performances measured demonstrate that a RICH with aerogel is a viable detector for experiments with high multiplicity of particles in the final state

  16. Preparation and evaluation of poly(alkyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolithic columns for separating polar small molecules by capillary liquid chromatography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Shu-Ling; Wu, Yu-Ru; Lin, Tzuen-Yeuan; Fuh, Ming-Ren, E-mail: msfuh@scu.edu.tw

    2015-04-29

    Highlights: • Methacrylic acid (MAA) was used to increase hydrophilicity of polymeric monoliths. • Fast separation of phenol derivatives was achieved in 5 min using MAA-incorporated column. • Separations of aflatoxins and phenicol antibiotics were achieved using MAA-incorporated column. - Abstract: In this study, methacrylic acid (MAA) was incorporated with alkyl methacrylates to increase the hydrophilicity of the synthesized ethylene dimethacrylate-based (EDMA-based) monoliths for separating polar small molecules by capillary LC analysis. Different alkyl methacrylate–MAA ratios were investigated to prepare a series of 30% alkyl methacrylate–MAA–EDMA monoliths in fused-silica capillaries (250-μm i.d.). The porosity, permeability, and column efficiency of the synthesized MAA-incorporated monolithic columns were characterized. A mixture of phenol derivatives is employed to evaluate the applicability of using the prepared monolithic columns for separating small molecules. Fast separation of six phenol derivatives was achieved in 5 min with gradient elution using the selected poly(lauryl methacrylate-co-MAA-co-EDMA) monolithic column. In addition, the effect of acetonitrile content in mobile phase on retention factor and plate height as well as the plate height-flow velocity curves were also investigated to further examine the performance of the selected poly(lauryl methacrylate-co-MAA-co-EDMA) monolithic column. Moreover, the applicability of prepared polymer-based monolithic column for potential food safety applications was also demonstrated by analyzing five aflatoxins and three phenicol antibiotics using the selected poly(lauryl methacrylate-co-MAA-co-EDMA) monolithic column.

  17. A Special Material or a New State of Matter: A Review and Reconsideration of the Aerogel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Shen

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The ultrahighly nanoporous aerogel is recognized as a state of matter rather than as a functional material, because of its qualitative differences in bulk properties, transitional density and enthalpy between liquid and gas, and diverse chemical compositions. In this review, the characteristics, classification, history and preparation of the aerogel were introduced. More attention was paid to the sol-gel method for preparing different kinds of aerogels, given its important role on bridging the synthetic parameters with the properties. At last, preparation of a novel single-component aerogel, design of a composite aerogel and industrial application of the aerogel were regarded as the research tendency of the aerogel state in the near future.

  18. European Science Notes Information Bulletin. Reports on Current European and Middle Eastern Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-01-01

    actuators, windshield wipers, and aircraft instru- ment displays. The concept of operation is that a flat array of piezoelectric elements forms the "stator...Inorganiques - "* Aluminosilicate Fractal Aerogels J. C. Bernier "* Sol-gel Transition and Aging of Silica-based * Ceramic Powders Gels * Sols and Colloidal...34* Structural and Vibration Modes of Aerogels * Colloidal Precursors for Ceramic Materials "* Mechanical Properties of Silica Gels and Aerogels Centre

  19. Transparent, Superflexible Doubly Cross-Linked Polyvinylpolymethylsiloxane Aerogel Superinsulators via Ambient Pressure Drying.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zu, Guoqing; Shimizu, Taiyo; Kanamori, Kazuyoshi; Zhu, Yang; Maeno, Ayaka; Kaji, Hironori; Shen, Jun; Nakanishi, Kazuki

    2018-01-23

    Aerogels have many attractive properties but are usually costly and mechanically brittle, which always limit their practical applications. While many efforts have been made to reinforce the aerogels, most of the reinforcement efforts sacrifice the transparency or superinsulating properties. Here we report superflexible polyvinylpolymethylsiloxane, (CH 2 CH(Si(CH 3 )O 2/2 )) n , aerogels that are facilely prepared from a single precursor vinylmethyldimethoxysilane or vinylmethyldiethoxysilane without organic cross-linkers. The method is based on consecutive processes involving radical polymerization and hydrolytic polycondensation, followed by ultralow-cost, highly scalable, ambient-pressure drying directly from alcohol as a drying medium without any modification or additional solvent exchange. The resulting aerogels and xerogels show a homogeneous, tunable, highly porous, doubly cross-linked nanostructure with the elastic polymethylsiloxane network cross-linked with flexible hydrocarbon chains. An outstanding combination of ultralow cost, high scalability, uniform pore size, high surface area, high transparency, high hydrophobicity, excellent machinability, superflexibility in compression, superflexibility in bending, and superinsulating properties has been achieved in a single aerogel or xerogel. This study represents a significant progress of porous materials and makes the practical applications of transparent flexible aerogel-based superinsulators realistic.

  20. Organic carbon aerogels from the sol-gel polymerization of phenolic-furfural mixtures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pekala, R.W.

    1998-04-28

    The sol-gel polymerization of a phenolic-furfural mixture in dilute solution leads to a highly cross-linked network that can be supercritically dried to form a high surface area foam. These porous materials have cell/pore sizes {<=}1000 {angstrom}, and although they are dark brown in color, they can be classified as a new type of aerogel. The phenolic-furfural aerogel can be pyrolyzed in an inert atmosphere at 1050 C to produce carbon aerogels. This new aerogel may be used for thermal insulation, chromatographic packing, water filtration, ion-exchange, and carbon electrodes for energy storage devices, such as batteries and double-layer capacitors. 8 figs.

  1. Effect of Polishing Systems on Surface Roughness and Topography of Monolithic Zirconia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goo, C L; Yap, Auj; Tan, Kbc; Fawzy, A S

    2016-01-01

    This study evaluated the effect of different chairside polishing systems on the surface roughness and topography of monolithic zirconia. Thirty-five monolithic zirconia specimens (Lava PLUS, 3M ESPE) were fabricated and divided into five groups of seven and polished with the following: Group 1 (WZ)-Dura white stone followed by Shofu zirconia polishing kit; Group 2 (SZ)-Shofu zirconia polishing kit; Group 3 (CE)-Ceramiste porcelain polishers; Group 4 (CM)-Ceramaster porcelain polishers; and Group 5 (KZ)-Komet ZR zirconia polishers. All specimens were ground with a fine-grit diamond bur prior to polishing procedures to simulate clinical finishing. Baseline and post-polishing profilometric readings were recorded and delta Ra values (difference in mean surface roughness before and after polishing) were computed and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe post hoc test (pSEM) images of the ground but unpolished and polished specimens were acquired. Delta Ra values ranged from 0.146 for CE to 0.400 for KZ. Delta Ra values for KZ, WZ, and SZ were significantly greater than for CE. Significant differences in delta Ra values were also observed between KZ and CM. The SEM images obtained were consistent with the profilometric findings. Diamond-impregnated polishing systems were more effective than silica carbide-impregnated ones in reducing the surface roughness of ground monolithic zirconia.

  2. Aerogel-Based Insulation for Industrial Steam Distribution Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    John Williams

    2011-03-30

    Thermal losses in industrial steam distribution systems account for 977 trillion Btu/year in the US, more than 1% of total domestic energy consumption. Aspen Aerogels worked with Department of Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program to specify, develop, scale-up, demonstrate, and deliver Pyrogel XT®, an aerogel-based pipe insulation, to market to reduce energy losses in industrial steam systems. The product developed has become Aspen’s best selling flexible aerogel blanket insulation and has led to over 60 new jobs. Additionally, this product has delivered more than ~0.7 TBTU of domestic energy savings to date, and could produce annual energy savings of 149 TBTU by 2030. Pyrogel XT’s commercial success has been driven by it’s 2-4X better thermal performance, improved durability, greater resistance to corrosion under insulation (CUI), and faster installation times than incumbent insulation materials.

  3. Highly Insulating and Light Transmitting Aerogel Glazing for Super Insulating Windows (HILIT+)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Kristiansen, Finn Harken; Schultz, Jørgen Munthe

    2005-01-01

    to 1000 m²/g), the material is proposed to serve as substrate for catalytic materials. • The special pore structure of aerogel could be used for gas filters in the 20 to 100 nm region. • The sound velocity within aerogel is in the range of 100 to 300 m/s, which should be one of the lowest for an inorganic......-free nano-structured aerogel materials through a reasonably fast and reproducible process. The applicative part of this project aimed at elaborating, studying and optimising “state-of-the-art” (0.5 W/m2 K) aerogel glazings for windows. An important issue was the risk of outside condensation and rime and its....... No other known glazing exhibits such an excellent combination of solar transmittance and heat loss coefficient. The annual energy savings compared to triple low energy glazing is in the range of 10 – 20% depending on type of building. Beside the application in glazing production the HILIT+ aerogel material...

  4. Aerogel Cherenkov detector for characterizing the intense flash x-ray source, Cygnus, spectrum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Y., E-mail: yhkim@lanl.gov; Herrmann, H. W.; McEvoy, A. M.; Young, C. S.; Hamilton, C. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States); Schwellenbach, D. D.; Malone, R. M.; Kaufman, M. I.; Smith, A. S. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 (United States)

    2016-11-15

    An aerogel Cherenkov detector is proposed to measure the X-ray energy spectrum from the Cygnus—intense flash X-ray source operated at the Nevada National Security Site. An array of aerogels set at a variety of thresholds between 1 and 3 MeV will be adequate to map out the bremsstrahlung X-ray production of the Cygnus, where the maximum energy of the spectrum is normally around 2.5 MeV. In addition to the Cherenkov radiation from aerogels, one possible competing light-production mechanism is optical transition radiation (OTR), which may be significant in aerogels due to the large number of transitions from SiO{sub 2} clusters to vacuum voids. To examine whether OTR is a problem, four aerogel samples were tested using a mono-energetic electron beam (varied in the range of 1–3 MeV) at NSTec Los Alamos Operations. It was demonstrated that aerogels can be used as a Cherenkov medium, where the rate of the light production is about two orders magnitude higher when the electron beam energy is above threshold.

  5. Oxidation-mediated chitosan as additives for creation of chitosan aerogels with diverse three-dimensional interconnected skeletons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Sizhao; Feng, Jian; Feng, Junzong; Jiang, Yonggang

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • A new synthetic method for controlling morphology of chitosan aerogels is proposed. • Chitosan aerogels with nanoflake-like and nanofiber-like were prepared. • Textures of chitosan aerogels are strongly dependent upon the oxidation pattern. - Abstract: Naturally occurring polymer-based aerogels have myriad practical utilizations due to environmentally benign and fruitful resources. However, engineering morphology-controllable biomass aerogels still represents a great challenge. Here we present a facile solution to synthesize chitosan aerogels having distinguished textures by reacting oxidized chitosan with formaldehyde and chitosan sol. In more detail, chitosan was chemically oxidized using two types of oxidation agents such as ammonium persulphate (SPD) and sodium periodate (APS) to obtain corresponding oxidized chitosan, subsequently cross-linked with chitosan solution containing formaldehyde to harvest SPD-oxidized chitosan aerogels (SCAs) and APS-SPD-oxidized ones (ASCAs) after aging, solvent exchange and supercritical drying processes. We found that the morphologies of as-prepared chitosan aerogels are strongly dependent upon the oxidation pattern towards chitosan. The structural textures of SCAs and ASCAs appear nanoflake-like and nanofiber-like structures, which may be related to spatial freedom of active groups located in chitosan. Selected area electron diffraction analysis reveals that the crystalline properties of chitosan aerogels generally appear the serious deterioration comparing to raw chitosan owing to their interconnected skeletal structure formation. The occurrence of characteristic groups displays cross-linked chain construction by using chemical state measurements such as FT-IR and XPS. Further, a plausible mechanism for controlling morphology of chitosan aerogels is also established. This new family of method for creation of chitosan aerogels may open up a perspective for biomass aerogels with controllable textures.

  6. Oxidation-mediated chitosan as additives for creation of chitosan aerogels with diverse three-dimensional interconnected skeletons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Sizhao, E-mail: bule-soul@hotmail.com; Feng, Jian, E-mail: fengj@nudt.edu.cn; Feng, Junzong; Jiang, Yonggang

    2017-02-28

    Highlights: • A new synthetic method for controlling morphology of chitosan aerogels is proposed. • Chitosan aerogels with nanoflake-like and nanofiber-like were prepared. • Textures of chitosan aerogels are strongly dependent upon the oxidation pattern. - Abstract: Naturally occurring polymer-based aerogels have myriad practical utilizations due to environmentally benign and fruitful resources. However, engineering morphology-controllable biomass aerogels still represents a great challenge. Here we present a facile solution to synthesize chitosan aerogels having distinguished textures by reacting oxidized chitosan with formaldehyde and chitosan sol. In more detail, chitosan was chemically oxidized using two types of oxidation agents such as ammonium persulphate (SPD) and sodium periodate (APS) to obtain corresponding oxidized chitosan, subsequently cross-linked with chitosan solution containing formaldehyde to harvest SPD-oxidized chitosan aerogels (SCAs) and APS-SPD-oxidized ones (ASCAs) after aging, solvent exchange and supercritical drying processes. We found that the morphologies of as-prepared chitosan aerogels are strongly dependent upon the oxidation pattern towards chitosan. The structural textures of SCAs and ASCAs appear nanoflake-like and nanofiber-like structures, which may be related to spatial freedom of active groups located in chitosan. Selected area electron diffraction analysis reveals that the crystalline properties of chitosan aerogels generally appear the serious deterioration comparing to raw chitosan owing to their interconnected skeletal structure formation. The occurrence of characteristic groups displays cross-linked chain construction by using chemical state measurements such as FT-IR and XPS. Further, a plausible mechanism for controlling morphology of chitosan aerogels is also established. This new family of method for creation of chitosan aerogels may open up a perspective for biomass aerogels with controllable textures.

  7. Electrochemical redox reactions in solvated silica sol-gel glass

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Opallo, M.

    2002-01-01

    The studies of electrochemical redox reactions in solvated silica sol-gel glass were reviewed. The methodology of the experiments with emphasis on the direct preparation of the solid electrolyte and the application ultra microelectrodes was described. Generally, the level of the electrochemical signal is not much below that observed in liquid electrolyte. The current depends on time elapsed after gelation, namely the longer time, the smaller current. The differences between electrochemical behaviour of the redox couples in monoliths and thin layers were described. (author)

  8. Joint Symposium on Compatibility of Plastics/Materials with Explosives Processing Explosives Held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 15-17 May 1979.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1979-05-01

    INTRODUCTION The prime weapon system on the A-10 aircraft is the GAU-8 gun system. This gun system has demonstrated...flowability additive developed by Dow Corning Corporation is obtained by converting a hydrophilic silica aerogel to a hydrophobic colloidal 0 silica by...commercially available as SilanoxTM* or TullanoxTM**. The silica aerogel is converted from the hydrophilic to the hydrophobic state by replacing the hydroxyl

  9. Selective oxidation with nanoporous silica supported sensitizers: An environment friendly process using air and visible light

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saint-Cricq, Philippe; Pigot, Thierry; Blanc, Sylvie [Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physicochimie pour l' Environnement et les Materiaux, Universite de Pau et des Pays de l' Adour, Helioparc-2 Av. du President Angot, F-64053 Pau Cedex 09 (France); Lacombe, Sylvie, E-mail: sylvie.lacombe@univ-pau.fr [Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physicochimie pour l' Environnement et les Materiaux, Universite de Pau et des Pays de l' Adour, Helioparc-2 Av. du President Angot, F-64053 Pau Cedex 09 (France)

    2012-04-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Photo-sensitizers were covalently grafted on silica matrices. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Grafted powdered silica was characterized by diffuse reflectance and emission spectroscopy. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Selective solvent-free photo-oxygenation was carried out with air under visible light. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Singlet generation and reactivity at the gas-solid interface was demonstrated. - Abstract: Transparent and porous silica xerogels containing various grafted photosensitizers (PSs) such as anthraquinone derivatives, Neutral Red, Acridine Yellow and a laboratory-made dicyano aromatics (DBTP) were prepared. In most cases, the xerogels were shown to be mainly microporous by porosimetry. The PSs were characterized in the powdered monoliths (form, aggregation, concentration) by electronic spectroscopy which also proved to be a useful tool for monitoring the material evolution after irradiation. These nanoporous xerogels were used as microreactors for gas/solid solvent-free photo-oxygenation of dimethylsulfide (DMS) using visible light and air as the sole reactant. All these PSs containing monoliths were efficient for gas-solid DMS oxidation, leading to sulfoxide and sulfone in varying ratios. As these polar oxidation products remained strongly adsorbed on the silica matrix, the gaseous flow at the outlet of the reactor was totally free of sulfide and odorless. The best results in term of yield and initial rate of degradation of DMS were obtained with DBTP containing xerogels. Moreover, as these materials were reusable without loss of efficiency and sensitizer photobleaching after a washing regeneration step, the concept of recyclable sensitizing materials was approved, opening the way to green process.

  10. Super insulating aerogel glazing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Kristiansen, Finn Harken

    2005-01-01

    of the glass and a heat-treatment of the aerogel increases the visible quality and the solar energy transmittance. A low-conductive rim seal solution with the required vacuum barrier properties has been developed along with a reliable assembly and evacuation process. The prototypes have a centre heat loss...

  11. Study of silica sol-gel materials for sensor development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Qiong

    in disrupting R6G/silica attraction. Similar post-grafting method was applied to highly hydrated silica hydrogel monoliths. Rhodamine 6G (R6G) and fluorescein (Fl) molecules were used as probes to monitor the surface modification inside silica hydrogel by measuring anisotropy values of doped dyes. Due to the larger pore sizes, pore surface modification inside hydrogel was more effective than in alcogel. Surface modification by chemical reactions of 3-Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) showed dramatic effect on guest molecule mobility, whereas surface modification by physical method, that is to increase ionic strength by using 1.0 M sodium chloride or to neutralize pore surfaces by adding pH 2.0 hydrochloric acid, barely showed any effect. Charge-reversal by APTS is a more effective way to modify pore surfaces in hydrogel than hydrophobic capping from MTES. The ease of tracking surface modification inside hydrogel by simply locating R6G dye band, and the negligible pore fluid effect on R6G in modified hydrogel makes R6G a better probe than Fl to monitor the pore surface modification process in silica hydrogel monoliths. During the study of post-grafting on silica alcogel thin film, a new approach to produce stable silica hydrogel-like thin films was discovered. Homogeneous thin film hydrogel-like samples with thickness between 100 nm and 300 nm were produced, and they showed a very hydrophilic surface, high dye loading capacity, and the support of molecular diffusion. The reactive stage of starting silica gel matrix was elongated by increasing environmental humidity, the reproducibility of sample preparation was greatly improved by controlling environmental humidity, and the dye loading capacity of samples was improved more than ten times by using phosphate buffer solutions (PBS). The concentration of R6G trapped inside hydrogel-like thin film could reach as high as 900 times of its saturated aqueous solution. Dye encapsulation can

  12. Structural properties and adsorption capacity of holocellulose aerogels synthesized from an alkali hydroxide-urea solution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kwon, Gu-Joong; Kim, Dae-Young; Hwang, Jae-Hyun; Kang, Joo-Hyon [Dongguk University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    A tulip tree was used to synthesize a holocellulose aerogel from an aqueous alkali hydroxide-urea solution with the substitution of an organic solvent followed by freeze-drying. For comparison, the synthesized holocellulose aerogels were divided into two groups according to the source of the hydrogel, an upper suspended layer and a bottom concentrated layer of the centrifuged solution of cellulose and NaOH/urea solvents. We investigated the effects of the temperature of the pre-cooled NaOH/urea solution (i.e., dissolution temperature) on the pore structure and the adsorption capacity of the holocellulose aerogel. A nano-fibrillar network structure of the holocellulose aerogel was observed, with little morphological difference in pore structure for different dissolution temperatures. Both micropores and mesopores were observed in the holocellulose aerogel. The specific surface area of the holocellulose aerogel was generally greater at lower dissolution temperatures. In a series of adsorption tests using methylene blue, the holocellulose aerogel showed the greatest adsorption capacity at the lowest dissolution temperature tested ( -2 .deg. C). However, the dissolution temperature generally had little effect on the adsorption capacity. The holocellulose aerogel produced from the upper suspended layer of the centrifuged hydrogel solution showed a greater porosity and adsorption capacity than the one produced from the bottom concentrated layer. Overall, the aerogel made by utilizing a delignified tulip tree display a high surface area and a high adsorption property, indicating its possible application in eco-friendly adsorption materials.

  13. Structural properties and adsorption capacity of holocellulose aerogels synthesized from an alkali hydroxide-urea solution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwon, Gu-Joong; Kim, Dae-Young; Hwang, Jae-Hyun; Kang, Joo-Hyon

    2014-01-01

    A tulip tree was used to synthesize a holocellulose aerogel from an aqueous alkali hydroxide-urea solution with the substitution of an organic solvent followed by freeze-drying. For comparison, the synthesized holocellulose aerogels were divided into two groups according to the source of the hydrogel, an upper suspended layer and a bottom concentrated layer of the centrifuged solution of cellulose and NaOH/urea solvents. We investigated the effects of the temperature of the pre-cooled NaOH/urea solution (i.e., dissolution temperature) on the pore structure and the adsorption capacity of the holocellulose aerogel. A nano-fibrillar network structure of the holocellulose aerogel was observed, with little morphological difference in pore structure for different dissolution temperatures. Both micropores and mesopores were observed in the holocellulose aerogel. The specific surface area of the holocellulose aerogel was generally greater at lower dissolution temperatures. In a series of adsorption tests using methylene blue, the holocellulose aerogel showed the greatest adsorption capacity at the lowest dissolution temperature tested ( -2 .deg. C). However, the dissolution temperature generally had little effect on the adsorption capacity. The holocellulose aerogel produced from the upper suspended layer of the centrifuged hydrogel solution showed a greater porosity and adsorption capacity than the one produced from the bottom concentrated layer. Overall, the aerogel made by utilizing a delignified tulip tree display a high surface area and a high adsorption property, indicating its possible application in eco-friendly adsorption materials.

  14. Thin Aerogel as a Spacer in Multilayer Insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moroz, Nancy

    2015-01-01

    Cryogenic fluid management is a critical technical area that is needed for future space exploration. A key challenge is the storability of liquid hydrogen (LH2), liquid methane (LCH4), and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants for long-duration missions. The storage tanks must be well-insulated to prevent over-pressurization and venting, which can lead to unacceptable propellant losses for long-duration missions to Mars and beyond. Aspen Aerogels had validated the key process step to enable the fabrication of thin, low-density aerogel materials. The multilayer aerogel insulation (MLAI) system prototypes were prepared using sheets of aerogel materials with superior thermal performance exceeding current state-of-the-art insulation for space applications. The exceptional properties of this system include a new breakthrough in high-vacuum cryogenic thermal insulation, providing a durable material with excellent thermal performance at a reduced cost when compared to longstanding state-of-the-art multilayer insulation systems. During the Phase II project, further refinement and qualification/system-level testing of the MLAI system will be performed for use in cryogenic storage applications. Aspen has been in discussions with United Launch Alliance, LLC; NASA's Kennedy Space Center; and Yetispace, Inc., to test the MLAI system on rea-lworld tanks such as Vibro-Acoustic Test Article (VATA) or the Cryogenic Orbital Testbed (CRYOTE).

  15. Superior microwave absorption properties of ultralight reduced graphene oxide/black phosphorus aerogel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Chunxue; Wang, Bochong; Wen, Fusheng; Mu, Congpu; Xiang, Jianyong; Li, Lei; Liu, Zhongyuan

    2018-06-01

    Through a facile self-assembled process, an ultralight reduced graphene oxide/black phosphorus (rGO/BP) composite aerogel was successfully fabricated. The BP nanosheets were homogeneously distributed throughout the rGO 3D framework, and the interfaces between rGO and BP possessed four kinds of interconnections, such as wrapping, wearing, bridging and weak linking. As an ultralight composite, the rGO/BP aerogel could easily stand on the stamen of a flower. Compared with pure rGO aerogel, the rGO/BP composite aerogel exhibited enhanced microwave absorption ability. The minimum reflection loss value of ‑46.9 dB with a thickness of 2.53 mm was obtained, and a wide absorption band of 6.1 GHz (RL < ‑10 dB) was achieved. The superior microwave absorption property was demonstrated to stem from the interfacial polarization loss mechanism in which the multiform interface interactions between the rGO skeleton and BP nanosheets played critical roles. The rGO/BP aerogel has great potential to be used as an ultralight microwave absorber.

  16. Refractive index inhomogeneity within an aerogel block

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellunato, T.; Calvi, M.; Da Silva Costa, C.F.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musy, M.; Perego, D.L.

    2006-01-01

    Evaluating local inhomogeneities of the refractive index inside aerogel blocks to be used as Cherenkov radiator is important for a high energy physics experiment where angular resolution is crucial. Two approaches are described and compared. The first one is based on the bending of a laser beam induced by refractive index gradients along directions normal to the unperturbed optical path. The second method exploits the Cherenkov effect itself by shooting an ultra-relativistic collimated electron beam through different points of the aerogel surface. Local refractive index variations result in sizable differences in the Cherenkov photons distribution

  17. A synthesis method for cobalt doped carbon aerogels with high surface area and their hydrogen storage properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tian, H.Y.; Buckley, C.E. [Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, WA (Australia); CSIRO National Hydrogen Materials Alliance, CSIRO Energy Centre, 10 Murray Dwyer Circuit, Steel River Estate, Mayfield West, NSW 2304 (Australia); Sheppard, D.A.; Paskevicius, M. [Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, WA (Australia); Hanna, N. [CSIRO Process Science and Engineering, Waterford, WA (Australia)

    2010-12-15

    Carbon aerogels doped with nanoscaled Co particles were prepared by first coating activated carbon aerogels using a wet-thin layer coating process. The resulting metal-doped carbon aerogels had a higher surface area ({proportional_to}1667 m{sup 2} g{sup -1}) and larger micropore volume ({proportional_to}0.6 cm{sup 3} g{sup -1}) than metal-doped carbon aerogels synthesised using other methods suggesting their usefulness in catalytic applications. The hydrogen adsorption behaviour of cobalt doped carbon aerogel was evaluated, displaying a high {proportional_to}4.38 wt.% H{sub 2} uptake under 4.6 MPa at -196 C. The hydrogen uptake capacity with respect to unit surface area was greater than for pure carbon aerogel and resulted in {proportional_to}1.3 H{sub 2} (wt. %) per 500 m{sup 2} g{sup -1}. However, the total hydrogen uptake was slightly reduced as compared to pure carbon aerogel due to a small reduction in surface area associated with cobalt doping. The improved adsorption per unit surface area suggests that there is a stronger interaction between the hydrogen molecules and the cobalt doped carbon aerogel than for pure carbon aerogel. (author)

  18. Electronic structure of titania aerogels: Soft x-ray absorption study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kucheyev, S.O.; Van Buuren, T.V.; Baumann, T.F.; Satcher, J.H.; Willey, T.M.; Muelenberg, R.W.; Felter, T.E.; Poco, J.E.; Gammon, S.A.; Terminello, L.J.

    2004-01-01

    Full text: Titania aerogels - a somewhat extreme form of nanoporous TiO 2 - are open-cell solid foams derived from highly crosslinked gels by drying them under supercritical conditions. In this presentation, the unoccupied electronic states of TiO 2 aerogels are studied by soft x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. High-resolution O K-edge and Ti L 2,3 -edge XANES spectra of aerogels are compared with those of rutile, anatase, and unrelaxed amorphous phases of full- density TiO 2 . Results show that all the main spectroscopic features of aerogels, reflecting the element-specific partial density of empty electronic states and correlation effects, can be attributed to the absence of long-range order in stoichiometric amorphous TiO 2 . Based on these results, we discuss the effects of short- and long-range order on the electronic structure of TiO 2 . This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48

  19. Multi-scale cellulose based new bio-aerogel composites with thermal super-insulating and tunable mechanical properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seantier, Bastien; Bendahou, Dounia; Bendahou, Abdelkader; Grohens, Yves; Kaddami, Hamid

    2016-03-15

    Bio-composite aerogels based on bleached cellulose fibers (BCF) and cellulose nanoparticles having various morphological and physico-chemical characteristics are prepared by a freeze-drying technique and characterized. The various composite aerogels obtained were compared to a BCF aerogel used as the reference. Severe changes in the material morphology were observed by SEM and AFM due to a variation of the cellulose nanoparticle properties such as the aspect ratio, the crystalline index and the surface charge density. BCF fibers form a 3D network and they are surrounded by the cellulose nanoparticle thin films inducing a significant reduction of the size of the pores in comparison with a neat BCF based aerogel. BET analyses confirm the appearance of a new organization structure with pores of nanometric sizes. As a consequence, a decrease of the thermal conductivities is observed from 28mWm(-1)K(-1) (BCF aerogel) to 23mWm(-1)K(-1) (bio-composite aerogel), which is below the air conductivity (25mWm(-1)K(-1)). This improvement of the insulation properties for composite materials is more pronounced for aerogels based on cellulose nanoparticles having a low crystalline index and high surface charge (NFC-2h). The significant improvement of their insulation properties allows the bio-composite aerogels to enter the super-insulating materials family. The characteristics of cellulose nanoparticles also influence the mechanical properties of the bio-composite aerogels. A significant improvement of the mechanical properties under compression is obtained by self-organization, yielding a multi-scale architecture of the cellulose nanoparticles in the bio-composite aerogels. In this case, the mechanical property is more dependent on the morphology of the composite aerogel rather than the intrinsic characteristics of the cellulose nanoparticles. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Ultralight and fire-resistant ceramic nanofibrous aerogels with temperature-invariant superelasticity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Si, Yang; Wang, Xueqin; Dou, Lvye; Yu, Jianyong; Ding, Bin

    2018-04-01

    Ultralight aerogels that are both highly resilient and compressible have been fabricated from various materials including polymer, carbon, and metal. However, it has remained a great challenge to realize high elasticity in aerogels solely based on ceramic components. We report a scalable strategy to create superelastic lamellar-structured ceramic nanofibrous aerogels (CNFAs) by combining SiO 2 nanofibers with aluminoborosilicate matrices. This approach causes the random-deposited SiO 2 nanofibers to assemble into elastic ceramic aerogels with tunable densities and desired shapes on a large scale. The resulting CNFAs exhibit the integrated properties of flyweight densities of >0.15 mg cm -3 , rapid recovery from 80% strain, zero Poisson's ratio, and temperature-invariant superelasticity to 1100°C. The integral ceramic nature also provided the CNFAs with robust fire resistance and thermal insulation performance. The successful synthesis of these fascinating materials may provide new insights into the development of ceramics in a lightweight, resilient, and structurally adaptive form.

  1. Three-dimensional multichannel aerogel of carbon quantum dots for high-performance supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Lingxiao; Fan, Yueqiong; Chen, Qing; Zhao, Yang; Hu, Yue; Zhang, Zhipan; Chen, Nan; Qu, Liangti

    2014-06-01

    A three-dimensional (3D) carbon quantum dot (CQD) aerogel has been prepared by in situ assembling CQDs in the sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) and subsequently pyrolyzing the formed CQD gel. Compared to the supercapacitor based on the CQD-free aerogel, the supercapacitor fabricated with the CQD aerogel showed 20-fold higher specific capacitance (294.7 F g-1 at the current density of 0.5 A g-1) and an excellent stability over 1000 consecutive charge-discharge cycles.

  2. Freeze-Casting Produces a Graphene Oxide Aerogel with a Radial and Centrosymmetric Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chunhui; Chen, Xiong; Wang, Bin; Huang, Ming; Wang, Bo; Jiang, Yi; Ruoff, Rodney S

    2018-05-14

    We report the assembly of graphene oxide (G-O) building blocks into a vertical and radially aligned structure by a bidirectional freeze-casting approach. The crystallization of water to ice assembles the G-O sheets into a structure, a G-O aerogel whose local structure mimics turbine blades. The centimeter-scale radiating structure in this aerogel has many channels whose width increases with distance from the center. This was achieved by controlling the formation of the ice crystals in the aqueous G-O dispersion that grew radially in the shape of lamellae during freezing. Because the shape and size of ice crystals is influenced by the G-O sheets, different additives (ethanol, cellulose nanofibers, and chitosan) that can form hydrogen bonds with H 2 O were tested and found to affect the interaction between the G-O and formation of ice crystals, producing ice crystals with different shapes. A G-O/chitosan aerogel with a spiral pattern was also obtained. After chemical reduction of G-O, our aerogel exhibited elasticity and absorption capacity superior to that of graphene aerogels with "traditional" pore structures made by conventional freeze-casting. This methodology can be expanded to many other configurations and should widen the use of G-O (and reduced G-O and "graphenic") aerogels.

  3. Ultrafast preparation of a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based ionic liquid hybrid monolith via photoinitiated polymerization, and its application to capillary electrochromatography of aromatic compounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bingyu; Lei, Xiaoyun; Deng, Lijun; Li, Minsheng; Yao, Sicong; Wu, Xiaoping

    2018-06-06

    An ionic liquid hybrid monolithic capillary column was prepared within 7 min via photoinitiated free-radical polymerization of an ionic liquid monomer (1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium-bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide); VBIMNTF 2 ) and a methacryl substituted polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS-MA) acting as a cross-linker. The effects of composition of prepolymerization solution and initiation time on the porous structure and electroosmotic flow (EOF) of monolithic column were investigated. The hybrid monolith was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and FTIR. Owing to the introduction of a rigid nanosized POSS silica core and ionic liquids with multiple interaction sites, the monolithic column has a well-defined 3D skeleton morphology, good mechanical stability, and a stable anodic electroosmotic flow. The hybrid monolithic stationary phase was applied to the capillary electrochromatographic separation of various alkylbenzenes, phenols, anilines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The column efficiency is highest (98,000 plates/m) in case of alkylbenzenes. Mixed-mode retention mechanisms including hydrophobic interactions, π-π stacking, electrostatic interaction and electrophoretic mobility can be observed. This indicates the potential of this material in terms of efficient separation of analytes of different structural type. Graphical Abstract Preparation of a mixed-mode ionic liquid hybrid monolithic column via photoinitiated polymerization of methacryl substituted polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS-MA) and 1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium-bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (VBIMNTF 2 ) ionic liquid for use in capillary electrochromatography.

  4. High-silica glass matrix process for high-level waste solidification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simmons, J.H.; Macedo, P.B.

    1981-01-01

    In the search for an optimum glass matrix composition, we have determined that chemical durability and thermal stability are maximized, and that stress development is minimized for glass compositions containing large concentrations of glass-forming oxides, of which silica is the major component (80 mol%). These properties and characteristics were recently demonstrated to belong to very old geological glasses known as tektites (ages of 750,000 to 34 million years.) The barrier to simulating tektite compositions for the waste glasses was the high melting temperature (1600 to 1800 0 C) needed for these glasses. Such temperatures greatly complicate furnace design and maintenance and lead to an intolerable vaporization of many of the radioisotopes into the off-gas system. Research conducted at our laboratory led to the development of a porous high-silica waste glass material with approximately 80% SiO 2 by mole and 30% waste loading by weight. The process can handle a wide variety of compositions, and yields long, elliptical, monolithic samples, which consist of a loaded high-silica core completely enveloped in a high-silica glass tube, which has collapsed upon the core and sealed it from the outside. The outer glass layer is totally free of waste isotopes and provides an integral multibarrier protection system

  5. Lithium-Catalyzed Carbon Aerogel and Its Possible Application in Energy Storage Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciszewski, Mateusz; Szatkowska, Elżbieta; Koszorek, Andrzej

    2017-07-01

    A lithium-based catalyst for carbon aerogel compounds and carbon nanotubes synthesis was used. Lithium hydroxide-catalyzed and CNT-modified carbon aerogel was compared to traditionally synthesized sodium carbonate-catalyzed carbon aerogel, as well as to the same material modified with CNT to evaluate the real effect of lithium hydroxide addition. Enhancement in the specific surface area from 498 m2/g to 786 m2/g and significant change in pore size distribution were observed. Low temperature, supercritical drying in carbon dioxide was used to prepare an organic aerogel with subsequent pyrolysis in an inert gas flow to convert it into carbon aerogel. The as-obtained material was examined with respect to energy storage applications, i.e. symmetric hybrid supercapacitors. It was shown that lithium hydroxide was responsible for shorter gelation time, increased specific surface area, and a greater number of micropores within the structure. For both reference materials prepared using sodium carbonate, quite different data were recorded. It was presented that the proper choice of carbon matrix should combine both high specific surface area and appropriate pore size distribution. High surface area and a relatively large number of micropores were responsible for specific capacity loss.

  6. Formation and pore structure of boron nitride aerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindquist, D.H.; Borek, T.T.; Kramer, S.J.; Kramer, S.J.; Naruta, C.K.; Johnson, G.; Schaeffer, R.; Smith, D.M.; Paine, R.T.

    1990-01-01

    This paper reports gels containing a poly(borazinyl amine) and tetrahydrofuran processed by CO 2 supercritical drying techniques followed by pyrolysis. The resulting BN ceramic aerogels are highly porous, and the microstructure, porosity, and surface area characteristics have been examined. The aerogels show excellent thermal stability exhibiting surface areas in excess of 350 m 2 /g and porosities greater than 0.8 even when heated in argon at 1500 degrees C for 8 h. By removing solvent via evaporation before supercritical drying, the mean pore radius can be varied between 3.6 and 10 nm

  7. Biodiesel production by using lipase immobilized onto novel silica-based hybrid foams

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brun, Nicolas [Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Pessac (France); Institut des Sciences Moleculaires, Talence (France); Garcia, Annick Babeau; Oestreicher, Victor; Durand, Fabien; Backov, Renal [Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Pessac (France); Deleuze, Herve [Institut des Sciences Moleculaires, Talence (France); Laurent, Guillaume; Sanchez, Clement [Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matiere Condensee, Paris (France)

    2010-07-01

    The covalent immobilization of crude lipases within silica-based macroporous frameworks have been performed by combining sol-gel process, concentrated direct emulsion, lyotropic mesophase and post-synthesis functionalizations. The assynthesized open cell hybrid monoliths exhibit high macroscopic porosity, around 90%, providing interconnected scaffold while reducing the diffusion low kinetic issue. The entrapment of enzymes in such foams deals with a high stability over esterification of fatty acids, hydrolysis of triglycerides (not shown herein) and biodiesel production by transesterification. (orig.)

  8. Flexible transparent aerogels as window retrofitting films and optical elements with tunable birefringence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Qingkun; Frazier, Allister W.; Zhao, Xinpeng; De La Cruz, Joshua A.; Hess, Andrew J.; Yang, Ronggui; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

    2018-06-01

    Experimental realization of optically transparent, mechanically robust and flexible aerogels has been a longstanding challenge, which limits their practical applications in energy-saving devices, such as thermally insulating films for enhancing energy efficiency of windows. The poor transparency precluded even hypothetical consideration of the possibility of birefringent aerogels. We develop birefringent and optically isotropic aerogels that combine properties of thermal super-insulation, mechanical robustness and flexibility, and transparency to visible-spectrum light. This unusual combination of physical properties is achieved by combining liquid crystalline self-organization of cellulose nanofibers with polysiloxane cross-linking and control of the nanoscale porosity to form hybrid organic-inorganic mesostructured aerogels. Potential applications of these inexpensive materials range from single pane window retrofitting to smart fabrics.

  9. Few-layer MoS2-anchored graphene aerogel paper for free-standing electrode materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Wee Siang Vincent; Peng, Erwin; Loh, Tamie Ai Jia; Huang, Xiaolei; Xue, Jun Min

    2016-04-21

    To reduce the reliance on polymeric binders, conductive additives, and metallic current collectors during the electrode preparation process, as well as to assess the true performance of lithium ion battery (LIB) anodes, a free-standing electrode has to be meticulously designed. Graphene aerogel is a popular scaffolding material that has been widely used with embedded nanoparticles for application in LIB anodes. However, the current graphene aerogel/nanoparticle composite systems still involve decomposition into powder and the addition of additives during electrode preparation because of the thick aerogel structure. To further enhance the capacity of the system, MoS2 was anchored onto a graphene aerogel paper and the composite was used directly as an LIB anode. The resultant additive-free MoS2/graphene aerogel paper composite exhibited long cyclic performance with 101.1% retention after 700 cycles, which demonstrates the importance of free-standing electrodes in enhancing cyclic stability.

  10. Flexible Supercapacitors Based on Polyaniline Arrays Coated Graphene Aerogel Electrodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yu; Xi, Yunlong; Li, Junzhi; Wei, Guodong; Klyui, N I; Han, Wei

    2017-12-01

    Flexible supercapacitors(SCs) made by reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based aerogel usually suffer from the low energy density, short cycle life and bad flexibility. In this study, a new, synthetic strategy was developed for enhancing the electrochemical performances of rGO aerogel-based supercapacitor via electrodeposition polyaniline arrays on the prepared ultralight rGO aerogel. The novel hybrid composites with coated polyaniline (PANI) arrays growing on the rGO surface can take full advantage of the rich open-pore and excellent conductivity of the crosslinking framework structure of 3D rGO aerogel and high capacitance contribution from the PANI. The obtained hybrid composites exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 432 F g -1 at the current density of 1 A g -1 , robust cycling stability to maintain 85% after 10,000 charge/discharge cycles and high energy density of 25 W h kg -1 . Furthermore, the flexible all-solid-state supercapacitor have superior flexibility and outstanding stability under different bending states from the straight state to the 90° status. The high-performance flexible all-solid-state SCs together with the lighting tests demonstrate it possible for applications in portable electronics.

  11. Development of fluorocarbon/silica composites via sol/gel process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, Max P.; Maria, Daniel A.; Gomes, Luiza M.F.

    2009-01-01

    Fluorocarbon/silica composites have interesting physical-chemical properties, combining the great resistance to chemical products, the electric insulation, and the thermal stability of fluorine polymers with the optical, magnetic, and dielectric properties of silica. Due to the unique mechanical, thermal, and dielectric properties of fluorocarbon and silica composites, there is interest in their application in the development of fuel cells, the production of integrated circuit boards (ICB), and packages for the transportation of integrated circuits. The sol-gel process is a chemical route to prepare ceramic materials with specific properties that are hard or impossible to obtain by conventional methods. Fluorocarbon/silica composites were obtained by the sol-gel method from tetramethoxysilane - TMOS and fluorinated hydrocarbons with low molecular weight and main chains with 10 - 20 carbon atoms previously obtained from PTFE scraps irradiated with a 60 Co γ source in oxygen atmosphere with a dose of 1 MGy. Syntheses were performed in 125-mL reaction flasks in basic medium at 35 deg C and in acid medium at 60 deg C with N-N dimethylformamide as a chemical additive for drying control. After synthesis, the material was thermally treated in an oven with electronic temperature control. The monoliths obtained were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electron microprobe and by a standard nitrogen adsorption-desorption technique. (author)

  12. The Relation between the Rheological Properties of Gels and the Mechanical Properties of Their Corresponding Aerogels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingze Sun

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available A series of low density, highly porous clay/poly(vinyl alcohol composite aerogels, incorporating ammonium alginate, were fabricated via a convenient and eco-friendly freeze drying method. It is significant to understand rheological properties of precursor gels because they directly affect the form of aerogels and their processing behaviors. The introduction of ammonium alginate impacted the rheological properties of colloidal gels and improved the mechanical performance of the subject aerogels. The specific compositions and processing conditions applied to those colloidal gel systems brought about different aerogel morphologies, which in turn translated into the observed mechanical properties. The bridge between gel rheologies and aerogel structures are established in the present work.

  13. Aerogel RICH for the Belle II forward PID

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nishida, S., E-mail: shohei.nishida@kek.jp [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Adachi, I. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Hamada, N. [Toho University, Funabashi (Japan); Hara, K. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan); Iijima, T. [Nagoya University, Nagoya (Japan); Iwata, S.; Kakuno, H. [Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); Kawai, H. [Chiba University, Chiba (Japan); Korpar, S.; Krizan, P. [Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Ogawa, S. [Toho University, Funabashi (Japan); Pestotnik, R.; Ŝantelj, L.; Seljak, A. [Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Sumiyoshi, T. [Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); Tabata, M. [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara (Japan); Tahirovic, E. [Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Yoshida, K. [Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji (Japan); Yusa, Y. [Niigata University, Niigata (Japan)

    2014-12-01

    The Belle II spectrometer, a follow up of the very successful Belle experiment, is under construction at the SuperKEKB electron–positron collider at KEK in Japan. For the PID system in the forward region of the spectrometer, a proximity focusing ring-imaging Cherenkov (RICH) counter with an aerogel radiator is being developed. The counter will provide a 4σ separation of pions and kaons up to momenta of 4 GeV/c. For the position sensitive photon sensor, a 144-channel Hybrid Avalanche Photo-Detector (HAPD) has been developed with Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. The readout electronics is based on the custom developed ASIC. The design of the components is currently being finalized and part of their mass production have already started. Herein, we report the final design of the counter and a prototype test conducted with test beams at DESY. - Highlights: • We are constructing a RICH counter with aerogel radiator for Belle II. • Beam test for the prototype Aerogel RICH shows its good performance. • The effect of the neutron irradiation of the photodetector is examined.

  14. SAXS study of silica sols, gels and glasses obtained by the sol gel process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, D.I. dos; Aegerter, M.A.

    1988-01-01

    Systematic SAXS studies have been performed at the LURE Synchrotron, Orsay, using an intense beam of point like cross-section to obtain information about the sol -> humid gel -> dried gel -> silica glass transformation. The intensity curves have been analysed in term of power law in log-log plots, whose exponent is related to mass and surface fractal dimensions of the structure. It was found that almost all phases present fractal structures and for the case of basic gels, is of hierarchical nature. The aerogels are formed by a dense matrix, with a smooth surface and exhibit a very narrow auto-similarity range that gives a mass fractal dimension. (author) [pt

  15. Trapping and aerogelation of nanoparticles in negative gravity hydrocarbon flames

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chakrabarty, Rajan K.; Novosselov, Igor V.; Beres, Nicholas D.; Moosmüller, Hans; Sorensen, Christopher M.; Stipe, Christopher B.

    2014-01-01

    We report the experimental realization of continuous carbon aerogel production using a flame aerosol reactor by operating it in negative gravity (−g; up-side-down configuration). Buoyancy opposes the fuel and air flow forces in −g, which eliminates convectional outflow of nanoparticles from the flame and traps them in a distinctive non-tipping, flicker-free, cylindrical flame body, where they grow to millimeter-size aerogel particles and gravitationally fall out. Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that a closed-loop recirculation zone is set up in −g flames, which reduces the time to gel for nanoparticles by ≈10 6  s, compared to positive gravity (upward rising) flames. Our results open up new possibilities of one-step gas-phase synthesis of a wide variety of aerogels on an industrial scale.

  16. Trapping and aerogelation of nanoparticles in negative gravity hydrocarbon flames

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chakrabarty, Rajan K., E-mail: rajan.chakrabarty@gmail.com [Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 (United States); Laboratory for Aerosol Science, Spectroscopy, and Optics, Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, Nevada 89512 (United States); Novosselov, Igor V. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States); Enertechnix Inc., Maple Valley, Washington 98068 (United States); Beres, Nicholas D.; Moosmüller, Hans [Laboratory for Aerosol Science, Spectroscopy, and Optics, Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, Nevada 89512 (United States); Sorensen, Christopher M. [Condensed Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506 (United States); Stipe, Christopher B. [TSI Incorporated, 500 Cardigan Rd, Shoreview, Minnesota 55126 (United States)

    2014-06-16

    We report the experimental realization of continuous carbon aerogel production using a flame aerosol reactor by operating it in negative gravity (−g; up-side-down configuration). Buoyancy opposes the fuel and air flow forces in −g, which eliminates convectional outflow of nanoparticles from the flame and traps them in a distinctive non-tipping, flicker-free, cylindrical flame body, where they grow to millimeter-size aerogel particles and gravitationally fall out. Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that a closed-loop recirculation zone is set up in −g flames, which reduces the time to gel for nanoparticles by ≈10{sup 6} s, compared to positive gravity (upward rising) flames. Our results open up new possibilities of one-step gas-phase synthesis of a wide variety of aerogels on an industrial scale.

  17. Three-Dimensional Glass Monolithic Micro-Flexure Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser Exposure and Chemical Etching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktor Tielen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Flexures are components of micro-mechanisms efficiently replacing classical multi-part joints found at the macroscale. So far, flexures have been limited to two-dimensional planar designs due to the lack of a suitable three-dimensional micromanufacturing process. Here we demonstrate and characterize a high-strength transparent monolithic three-dimensional flexural component fabricated out of fused silica using non-ablative femtosecond laser processing combined with chemical etching. As an illustration of the potential use of this flexure, we propose a design of a Hoecken linkage entirely made with three-dimensional cross-spring pivot hinges.

  18. Measurement of aerogel performance for ring image Cherenkov detector of HERMES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanesaka, Jiro; Zhang Linfeng; Sato, Fumiko; Suetsugu, Kentaro; Sakami, Yasuhiro; Shibata, Toshiaki

    1999-01-01

    The first experiment of ring image Cherenkov detector (RICH) used aerogel in the world was reported in this paper. We built RICH using aerogel as illuminant for HERMES. The refractive index and size of all aerogel tiles were measured in order to select them for construction of RICH. The select conditions of tile were 113.1 -4 , the dispersion of refractive index of aerogel tile, which condition was fitted to the accuracy of Cherenkov light emission angle of RICH. The mean thickness, transmission and reflection of tile, the thickness of corner of tile (thickness of surface), the refractive index dependence on position and temperature were measured. The effect of thickness of tile on the shift of Cherenkov emission angle was 6.1% the maximum value per one tile and 0.18% mean value of center. The effect of position dependence of refractive index on the Cherenkov light emission angle was agreed with the effect of dispersion of thickness of tile. The transmission and reflection of tile were almost same as the theoretical value. (S.Y.)

  19. Reduced graphene oxide aerogel networks with soft interfacial template for applications in bone tissue regeneration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asha, S.; Ananth, A. Nimrodh; Jose, Sujin P.; Rajan, M. A. Jothi

    2018-05-01

    Reduced Graphene Oxide aerogels (A-RGO), functionalized with chitosan, were found to induce and/or accelerate the mineralization of hydroxyapatite. The functionalized chitosan acts as a soft interfacial template on the surface of A-RGO assisting the growth of hydroxyapatite particles. The mineralization on these soft aerogel networks was performed by soaking the aerogels in simulated body fluid, relative to time. Polymer-induced mineralization exhibited an ordered arrangement of hydroxyapatite particles on reduced graphene oxide aerogel networks with a higher crystalline index (IC) of 1.7, which mimics the natural bone formation indicating the importance of the polymeric interfacial template. These mineralized aerogels which mimic the structure and composition of natural bone exhibit relatively higher rate of cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and osteoid matrix formation proving it to be a potential scaffold for bone tissue regeneration.

  20. Green synthesis of amphipathic graphene aerogel constructed by using the framework of polymer-surfactant complex for water remediation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Jingjing; Wang, Ziyuan; Yang, Xianhou; Tu, Jing; Wu, Ronglan; Wang, Wei

    2018-06-01

    Graphene aerogels have been extensively studied in water treatment and oil remediation. We report a mild and green method to prepare a 3D-columnar graphene aerogel. The aerogel was synthesized by using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and stearic acid (SA) as crosslinking agents to construct a framework of reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The interaction between PVA, SA, and stacked RGO sheets created a mechanically very robust aerogel. The aerogel possesses ultra-light performance with the destiny ranging from 4.9 to 10 mg cm-3. The aerogel also demonstrated ultrafast oil absorption, good fire-resistance, and excellent mechanical properties. The adsorptive capacities are in the range of 105-250 times of its original weight for various organic liquids after the absorption. The aerogel also exhibited a strong durability and reusability, and after ten cycles of absorbing-squeezing, the adsorptive capacity is nearly unchanged, indicating potential application in practical oil remediation.

  1. Preparation of silica by sol-gel method using formamide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R.F.S. Lenza

    2001-07-01

    Full Text Available In this work we obtained microporous and mesoporous silica gels by sol-gel processing. Tetraethylortosilicate (TEOS was used as precursor. Nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid were used as catalysts. In order to study the affect of formamide as drying additive, we used a molar ratio alkoxide/formamide of 1/1. The performance of formamide in obtaining crack-free gels was evaluated through monolithicity measurements. The structural evolution occurring in the interconnected network of the gels during thermal treatment was monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, shrinkage and density measurements and nitrogen gas sorption. We noted that in the presence of formamide, the Si-O-Si bonds are stronger and belong to a more cross-linked structure. The samples obtained in the presence of formamide have larger pore volume and its pore structure is in the range of mesoporosity. The samples obtained without additive are microporous. Formamide allowed the preparation of crack-free silica gels stabilized at high temperatures.

  2. Robust Vacuum-/Air-Dried Graphene Aerogels and Fast Recoverable Shape-Memory Hybrid Foams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chenwei; Qiu, Ling; Zhang, Baoqing; Li, Dan; Liu, Chen-Yang

    2016-02-17

    New graphene aerogels can be fabricated by vacuum/air drying, and because of the mechanical robustness of the graphene aerogels, shape-memory polymer/graphene hybrid foams can be fabricated by a simple infiltration-air-drying-crosslinking method. Due to the superelasticity, high strength, and good electrical conductivity of the as-prepared graphene aerogels, the shape-memory hybrid foams exhibit excellent thermotropical and electrical shape-memory properties, outperforming previously reported shape-memory polymer foams. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Development of windows based on highly insulating aerogel glazings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Karsten Ingerslev; Schultz, Jørgen Munthe; Kristiansen, Finn Harken

    2004-01-01

    of buildings, the window area is the weakest part with respect to the heat loss, but at the same time, it also provides e.g. solar energy gain. Glazing prototypes have been made of aerogel tiles of about 55 cm sq. (elaborated within the projects). Those tiles are quickly evacuated and easily sealed between two...... glass panes and a specific rim seal. A heat treatment phase (after the supercritical CO2 drying) of the aerogel is currently being developed in order to improve its optical quality. This step increases the solar transmittance about 6 percent points. For glazing prototypes with an aerogel thickness...... of approx. 15 mm, a centre heat loss coefficient of below 0.7 W/m² K and a solar transmittance of 76% have been obtained. The research is funded in part by the European Commission within the frameworks of the Non-Nuclear Energy Programme – JOULE III and the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development...

  4. SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CELLULOSE BASED BIO-POLYMER AEROGEL ISOLATED FROM WASTE OF BLUEBERRY TREE (VACCINIUM MYRTILLUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet KAYA

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Cellulose aerogel (CA has highly porous structure, environmentally friendly, thermally stable and flame retardant properties. These properties in material worlds have attracted large interest as a potentially industrial material. In this paper, cellulose aerogel with flame retardant was produced from pruned branches and bushes of blueberries wastes (PBBW. Firstly, cellulose raw material these wastes was obtained and then, cellulose aerogel via freeze-drying, followed by cellulose hydrogel production. Our reports showed that three dimensionally network aerogel structure prepared from NaOH/Urea as scaffold solution. The present cellulose aerogel has excellent flame retardancy, which can extinguish within 140 s. By the way, it was inferred thermal stability performance of cellulose aerogel could be efficient potential thermal insulating material. Besides, this process are sustainable, easily available at low cost and suitable for industrial applications.

  5. Synergetic Hybrid Aerogels of Vanadia and Graphene as Electrode Materials of Supercapacitors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuewei Fu

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The performance of synergetic hybrid aerogel materials of vanadia and graphene as electrode materials in supercapacitors was evaluated. The hybrid materials were synthesized by two methods. In Method I, premade graphene oxide (GO hydrogel was first chemically reduced by L-ascorbic acid and then soaked in vanadium triisopropoxide solution to obtain V2O5 gel in the pores of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO hydrogel. The gel was supercritically dried to obtain the hybrid aerogel. In Method II, vanadium triisopropoxide was hydrolyzed from a solution in water with GO particles uniformly dispersed to obtain the hybrid gel. The hybrid aerogel was obtained by supercritical drying of the gel followed by thermal reduction of GO. The electrode materials were prepared by mixing 80 wt % hybrid aerogel with 10 wt % carbon black and 10 wt % polyvinylidene fluoride. The hybrid materials in Method II showed higher capacitance due to better interactions between vanadia and graphene oxide particles and more uniform vanadia particle distribution.

  6. Highly sensitive room temperature organic vapor sensor based on polybenzoxazine-derived carbon aerogel thin film composite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thubsuang, Uthen; Sukanan, Darunee; Sahasithiwat, Somboon; Wongkasemjit, Sujitra; Chaisuwan, Thanyalak

    2015-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Activated carbon aerogel with high surface area can be prepared from polybenzoxazine. • Activated carbon aerogel enhances the adsorption capacity of gas sensor. • Organic vapors with very low concentration can be detected by the as-prepared sensor. • The as-prepared sensor shows impressive short exposure and recovery time. • The response to different organic vapors can be tailored by changing polymer matrix. - Abstract: Gas sensing composites were fabricated using polybenzoxazine-based activated carbon aerogel as a conductive filler. The activated carbon aerogel is a nano-porous material, which has high pore volume of 0.57 cm 3 /g and surface area of 917 m 2 /g. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite displayed good response of 11.2 and 6.7 to toluene and n-hexane, respectively, compared to those of graphite/polybutadiene composite. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite also showed high sensitivity of 3.09 × 10 2 ppm −1 to toluene. However, the sensitivity of activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite drastically decreased to 1.99 ppm −1 and zero when exposed to acetone and water, respectively. Contrarily, when polyvinyl alcohol was used as a matrix, the sensitivity was about 4.19 ppm −1 to water. While the composite was found to be not sensitive to toluene. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite also showed good recovery as the electrical resistance came back to the original value within minutes when exposed to nitrogen gas

  7. Ormosil Beads for Insulation of Ground Cryogenic Storage Tanks, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Organically modified silica (Ormosil) aerogel beads developed at Aspen Aerogels, Inc. offer several advantages for retrofitting perlite insulation in NASA's ground...

  8. Fibrous monolithic ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovar, D.; King, B.H.; Trice, R.W.; Halloran, J.W.

    1997-01-01

    Fibrous monolithic ceramics are an example of a laminate in which a controlled, three-dimensional structure has been introduced on a submillimeter scale. This unique structure allows this all-ceramic material to fail in a nonbrittle manner. Materials have been fabricated and tested with a variety of architectures. The influence on mechanical properties at room temperature and at high temperature of the structure of the constituent phases and the architecture in which they are arranged are discussed. The elastic properties of these materials can be effectively predicted using existing models. These models also can be extended to predict the strength of fibrous monoliths with an arbitrary orientation and architecture. However, the mechanisms that govern the energy absorption capacity of fibrous monoliths are unique, and experimental results do not follow existing models. Energy dissipation occurs through two dominant mechanisms--delamination of the weak interphases and then frictional sliding after cracking occurs. The properties of the constituent phases that maximize energy absorption are discussed. In this article, the authors examine the structure of Si 3 N 4 -BN fibrous monoliths from the submillimeter scale of the crack-deflecting cell-cell boundary features to the nanometer scale of the BN cell boundaries

  9. Ignition capsules with aerogel-supported liquid DT fuel for the National Ignition Facility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ho D.D.-M.

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available For high repetition-rate fusion power plant applications, capsules with aerogel-supported liquid DT fuel can have much reduced fill time compared to β-layering a solid DT fuel layer. The melting point of liquid DT can be lowered once liquid DT is embedded in an aerogel matrix, and the DT vapor density is consequently closer to the desired density for optimal capsule design requirement. We present design for NIF-scale aerogel-filled capsules based on 1-D and 2-D simulations. An optimal configuration is obtained when the outer radius is increased until the clean fuel fraction is within 65 – 75% at peak velocity. A scan (in ablator and fuel thickness parameter space is used to optimize the capsule configurations. The optimized aerogel-filled capsule has good low-mode robustness and acceptable high-mode mix.

  10. Development of aerogel-lined targets for inertial confinement fusion experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Braun, Tom [Technical Univ. Munchen (Germany)

    2013-03-28

    This thesis explores the formation of ICF compatible foam layers inside of an ablator shell used for inertial confinement fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility. In particular, the capability of p- DCPD polymer aerogels to serve as a scaffold for the deuterium-tritium mix was analyzed. Four different factors were evaluated: the dependency of different factors such as thickness or composition of a precursor solution on the uniformity of the aerogel layer, how to bring the optimal composition inside of the ablator shell, the mechanical stability of ultra-low density p-DCPD aerogel bulk pieces during wetting and freezing with hydrogen, and the wetting behavior of thin polymer foam layers in HDC carbon ablator shells with liquid deuterium. The research for thesis was done at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in cooperation with the Technical University Munich.

  11. Versatile fabrication of a superhydrophobic and ultralight cellulose-based aerogel for oil spillage clean-up.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hui; Li, Yuqi; Xu, Yaoguang; Lu, Zexiang; Chen, Lihui; Huang, Liulian; Fan, Mizi

    2016-10-12

    To deal with marine oil spillage and chemical leakage issues, a highly efficient absorbent (cellulose based aerogel) with a low density (ρ 98.5%) and high mechanical strength was fabricated via a novel physical-chemical foaming method, plasma treatment and subsequent silane modification process. This aerogel has a perfect 3D skeleton and interconnected pores similar to honeycomb, which are favorable to oil adsorption and storage. More importantly, without introducing additional micro/nanoparticles, the rough micro/nano structure of the surface was directly constructed using plasma irradiation in this study. The low surface energy substrate was further introduced using a simple physical-soaking method and the resulting aerogel exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity (WCA > 156°) and superoleophilicity (OCA = 0°), which can selectively and efficiently absorb various oils or organic solvents from polluted water. In addition, this aerogel has a high storage capacity and absorption capacity (up to 4300% and 99% of its weight and volume, respectively). More interestingly, this aerogel exhibits excellent mechanical abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance even in strong acid, alkali solution and salt marine environment. The aerogel could be reused more than 30 times after removal of the absorbed oil by rinsing with ethanol.

  12. Three-dimensional barium-sulfate-impregnated reduced graphene oxide aerogel for removal of strontium from aqueous solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Jiseon; Lee, Dae Sung

    2018-06-01

    A three-dimensional barium-sulfate-impregnated reduced graphene oxide (BaSO4-rGO) aerogel was successfully synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and was used as an adsorbent to remove strontium from aqueous solutions. The characterized elemental composition, crystal structure, and morphology of the prepared aerogel confirmed that barium sulfate particles were firmly anchored on the surface of the rGO sheets and exhibited a porous 3D structure with a high surface area of 129.37 m2/g. The mass ratio of BaSO4 in the BaSO4-rGO aerogel substantially affected strontium adsorption, and the optimal BaSO4/rGO ratio was found to be 1:1. The synthesized BaSO4-rGO aerogel not only reached adsorption equilibrium within 1 h, but also showed much higher adsorption capacity than an rGO aerogel. The experimental data were well fitted to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the adsorption behavior followed the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption capacity of strontium on BaSO4-rGO aerogels remained relatively high even under ionic competition in simulated seawater. These results showed that the BaSO4-rGO aerogel is an efficient and promising adsorbent for the treatment of strontium in aqueous solutions.

  13. Flexible, highly graphitized carbon aerogels based on bacterial cellulose/lignin: Catalyst-free synthesis and its application in energy storage devices

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Xuezhu

    2015-04-15

    Currently, most carbon aerogels are based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or graphene, which are produced through a catalyst-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. Biomass based organic aerogels and carbon aerogels, featuring low cost, high scalability, and small environmental footprint, represent an important new research direction in (carbon) aerogel development. Cellulose and lignin are the two most abundant natural polymers in the world, and the aerogels based on them are very promising. Classic silicon aerogels and available organic resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) or lignin-resorcinol-formaldehyde (LRF) aerogels are brittle and fragile; toughening of the aerogels is highly desired to expand their applications. This study reports the first attempt to toughen the intrinsically brittle LRF aerogel and carbon aerogel using bacterial cellulose. The facile process is catalyst-free and cost-effective. The toughened carbon aerogels, consisting of blackberry-like, core-shell structured, and highly graphitized carbon nanofibers, are able to undergo at least 20% reversible compressive deformation. Due to their unique nanostructure and large mesopore population, the carbon materials exhibit an areal capacitance higher than most of the reported values in the literature. This property makes them suitable candidates for flexible solid-state energy storage devices. Besides energy storage, the conductive interconnected nanoporous structure can also find applications in oil/water separation, catalyst supports, sensors, and so forth. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. Effects of magnetic impurity scattering on superfluid 3He in aerogel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoyama, Kazushi; Ikeda, Ryusuke

    2009-02-01

    We investigate impurity effects on superfluid 3He in aerogel whose surface is not coated with 4He, different from most experimental situations. In systems with no 4He coating, spins of solid 3He absorbed on the aerogel surface are active and interact with spins of quasiparticles relevant to superfluidity and, for this reason, such an aerogel is treated as magnetic scatterers. It is found that, in the ABM pairing state affected by magnetic scatterings, not only the l-vector but also the d-vector has no long-ranged orientational order, and that the strong-coupling correction due to impurity scatterings is less suppressed than that in the nonmagnetic case, implying an expansion of the A-like phase region.

  15. Plasmonic enhancement of visible-light water splitting with Au-TiO2 composite aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desario, Paul A.; Pietron, Jeremy J.; Devantier, Devyn E.; Brintlinger, Todd H.; Stroud, Rhonda M.; Rolison, Debra R.

    2013-08-01

    We demonstrate plasmonic enhancement of visible-light-driven splitting of water at three-dimensionally (3D) networked gold-titania (Au-TiO2) aerogels. The sol-gel-derived ultraporous composite nanoarchitecture, which contains 1 to 8.5 wt% Au nanoparticles and titania in the anatase form, retains the high surface area and mesoporosity of unmodified TiO2 aerogels and maintains stable dispersion of the ~5 nm Au guests. A broad surface plasmon resonance (SPR) feature centered at ~550 nm is present for the Au-TiO2 aerogels, but not Au-free TiO2 aerogels, and spans a wide range of the visible spectrum. Gold-derived SPR in Au-TiO2 aerogels cast as films on transparent electrodes drives photoelectrochemical oxidation of aqueous hydroxide and extends the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 from the ultraviolet region to visible wavelengths exceeding 700 nm. Films of Au-TiO2 aerogels in which Au nanoparticles are deposited on pre-formed TiO2 aerogels by a deposition-precipitation method (DP Au/TiO2) also photoelectrochemically oxidize aqueous hydroxide, but less efficiently than 3D Au-TiO2, despite having an essentially identical Au nanoparticle weight fraction and size distribution. For example, 3D Au-TiO2 containing 1 wt% Au is as active as DP Au/TiO2 with 4 wt% Au. The higher photocatalytic activity of 3D Au-TiO2 derives only in part from its ability to retain the surface area and porosity of unmodified TiO2 aerogel. The magnitude of improvement indicates that in the 3D arrangement either a more accessible photoelectrochemical reaction interphase (three-phase boundary) exists or more efficient conversion of excited surface plasmons into charge carriers occurs, thereby amplifying reactivity over DP Au/TiO2. The difference in photocatalytic efficiency between the two forms of Au-TiO2 demonstrates the importance of defining the structure of Au||TiO2 interfaces within catalytic Au-TiO2 nanoarchitectures.We demonstrate plasmonic enhancement of visible-light-driven splitting of

  16. System and method for 3D printing of aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worsley, Marcus A.; Duoss, Eric; Kuntz, Joshua; Spadaccini, Christopher; Zhu, Cheng

    2016-03-08

    A method of forming an aerogel. The method may involve providing a graphene oxide powder and mixing the graphene oxide powder with a solution to form an ink. A 3D printing technique may be used to write the ink into a catalytic solution that is contained in a fluid containment member to form a wet part. The wet part may then be cured in a sealed container for a predetermined period of time at a predetermined temperature. The cured wet part may then be dried to form a finished aerogel part.

  17. Highly sensitive room temperature organic vapor sensor based on polybenzoxazine-derived carbon aerogel thin film composite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thubsuang, Uthen [Materials Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Resources, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160 (Thailand); Sukanan, Darunee [The Petroleum and Petrochemical College and the Center of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand); Sahasithiwat, Somboon [National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand Science Park (TSP), Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani 12120 (Thailand); Wongkasemjit, Sujitra [The Petroleum and Petrochemical College and the Center of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand); Chaisuwan, Thanyalak, E-mail: thanyalak.c@chula.ac.th [The Petroleum and Petrochemical College and the Center of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand)

    2015-10-15

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Activated carbon aerogel with high surface area can be prepared from polybenzoxazine. • Activated carbon aerogel enhances the adsorption capacity of gas sensor. • Organic vapors with very low concentration can be detected by the as-prepared sensor. • The as-prepared sensor shows impressive short exposure and recovery time. • The response to different organic vapors can be tailored by changing polymer matrix. - Abstract: Gas sensing composites were fabricated using polybenzoxazine-based activated carbon aerogel as a conductive filler. The activated carbon aerogel is a nano-porous material, which has high pore volume of 0.57 cm{sup 3}/g and surface area of 917 m{sup 2}/g. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite displayed good response of 11.2 and 6.7 to toluene and n-hexane, respectively, compared to those of graphite/polybutadiene composite. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite also showed high sensitivity of 3.09 × 10{sup 2} ppm{sup −1} to toluene. However, the sensitivity of activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite drastically decreased to 1.99 ppm{sup −1} and zero when exposed to acetone and water, respectively. Contrarily, when polyvinyl alcohol was used as a matrix, the sensitivity was about 4.19 ppm{sup −1} to water. While the composite was found to be not sensitive to toluene. The activated carbon aerogel/polybutadiene composite also showed good recovery as the electrical resistance came back to the original value within minutes when exposed to nitrogen gas.

  18. A facile route for 3D aerogels from nanostructured 1D and 2D materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Sung Mi; Jung, Hyun Young; Dresselhaus, Mildred S.; Jung, Yung Joon; Kong, Jing

    2012-01-01

    Aerogels have numerous applications due to their high surface area and low densities. However, creating aerogels from a large variety of materials has remained an outstanding challenge. Here, we report a new methodology to enable aerogel production with a wide range of materials. The method is based on the assembly of anisotropic nano-objects (one-dimensional (1D) nanotubes, nanowires, or two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets) into a cross-linking network from their colloidal suspensions at the transition from the semi-dilute to the isotropic concentrated regime. The resultant aerogels have highly porous and ultrafine three-dimensional (3D) networks consisting of 1D (Ag, Si, MnO2, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)) and 2D materials (MoS2, graphene, h-BN) with high surface areas, low densities, and high electrical conductivities. This method opens up a facile route for aerogel production with a wide variety of materials and tremendous opportunities for bio-scaffold, energy storage, thermoelectric, catalysis, and hydrogen storage applications. PMID:23152940

  19. From Green Aerogels to Porous Graphite by Emulsion Gelation of Acrylonitrile

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    interparticle covalent bridging in the mechanical properties of aerogels,30 we have opted for a bottom-up process, whereas PAN aerogels are...series that employs the hanging pendant drop method, and data were analyzed using the Young−Laplace equation through the instrument software. Elemental...that the layer of the surfactant prevents intimate contact and efficient covalent bridging between the skeletal nanoparticles. Overall, our ability to

  20. Aerogel Hybrid Composite Materials: Designs and Testing for Multifunctional Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Martha K.; Fesmire, James E.

    2016-01-01

    This webinar will introduce the broad spectrum of aerogel composites and their diverse performance properties such as reduced heat transfer to energy storage, and expands specifically on the aerogel/fiber laminate systems and testing methodologies. The multi-functional laminate composite system, AeroFiber, and its construction is designed by varying the type of fiber (e.g. polyester, carbon, Kevlar®, Spectra® or Innegral(TradeMark) and combinations thereof), the aerogel panel type and thickness, and overall layup configuration. The combination and design of materials may be customized and tailored to achieve a range of desired properties in the resulting laminate system. Multi-functional properties include structural strength, impact resistance, reduction in heat transfer, increased fire resistance, mechanical energy absorption, and acoustic energy dampening. Applications include aerospace, aircraft, automotive, boating, building and construction, lightweight portable structures, liquefied natural gas, cryogenics, transportation and energy, sporting equipment, and military protective gear industries.

  1. Monolithic exploding foil initiator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welle, Eric J; Vianco, Paul T; Headley, Paul S; Jarrell, Jason A; Garrity, J. Emmett; Shelton, Keegan P; Marley, Stephen K

    2012-10-23

    A monolithic exploding foil initiator (EFI) or slapper detonator and the method for making the monolithic EFI wherein the exploding bridge and the dielectric from which the flyer will be generated are integrated directly onto the header. In some embodiments, the barrel is directly integrated directly onto the header.

  2. Nanocellulose-assisted low-temperature synthesis and supercapacitor performance of reduced graphene oxide aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jie; Ran, Ran; Sunarso, Jaka; Yin, Chao; Zou, Honggang; Feng, Yi; Li, Xiaobao; Zheng, Xu; Yao, Jianfeng

    2017-04-01

    Here, we have synthesized reduced graphene oxide (rGO) aerogels using a nanocellulose-assisted low temperature (less than 500 °C) thermal treatment route where nanocelluloses promote the gelation of graphene oxide (GO) solution that benefits the fabrication of GO aerogels from low concentration dispersion (2.85 mg mL-1), and after their thermal decomposition the residual nanofibers act as spacer both prevent the re-stacking of graphene sheets and integrate with rGO sheets to give a particular kind of carbon-based aerogel along with numerous defects (holes). Thermal decomposition of nanocellulose appears to be complete beyond 350 °C thus its presence in form of amorphous carbon nanofibers in rGO sheets. The rGO aerogels synthesized at 350 °C provide the best balance in terms of wide interlayer spacing, high content of CO-type functional groups, and high defects content. This translates into a high discharge capacitance of 270 F g-1 at a current rate of 1 A g-1 for compressed rGO aerogels without any binder or conductive additive. Detailed electrochemical tests using 6 M KOH electrolyte establish the fact that pseudocapacitance component has substantial contribution towards the overall capacitance; closely approaching the contribution of the double layer capacitance that is the most dominant capacitance component.

  3. Monolithic poly(1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane) capillary columns for simultaneous separation of low- and high-molecular-weight compounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greiderer, Andreas; Ligon, S Clark; Huck, Christian W; Bonn, Günther K

    2009-08-01

    Monolithic poly(1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane (BVPE)) capillary columns were prepared by thermally initiated free radical polymerisation of 1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane in the presence of inert diluents (porogens) and alpha,alpha'-azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. Polymerisations were accomplished in 200 microm ID fused silica capillaries at 65 degrees C and for 60 min. Mercury intrusion porosimetry measurements of the polymeric RP support showed a broad bimodal pore-size-distribution of mesopores and small macropores in the range of 5-400 nm and flow-channels in the mum range. N(2)-adsorption (BET) analysis resulted in a tremendous enhancement of surface area (101 m(2)/g) of BVPE stationary phases compared to typical organic monoliths (approximately 20 m(2)/g), indicating the presence of a considerable amount of mesopores. Consequently, the adequate proportion of both meso- and (small) macropores allowed the rapid and high-resolution separation of low-molecular-weight compounds as well as biomolecules on the same monolithic support. At the same time, the high fraction of flow-channels provided enhanced column permeability. The chromatographic performance of poly(1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane) capillary columns for the separation of biomolecules (proteins, oligonucleotides) and small molecules (alkyl benzenes, phenols, phenons) are demonstrated in this article. Additionally, pressure drop versus flow rate measurements of novel poly(1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane) capillary columns confirmed high mechanical robustness, low swelling in organic solvents and high permeability. Due to the simplicity of monolith fabrication, comprehensive studies of the retention and separation behaviour of monolithic BVPE columns resulted in high run-to-run and batch-to-batch reproducibilities. All these attributes prove the excellent applicability of monolithic poly(1,2-bis(p-vinylphenyl)ethane) capillary columns for micro-HPLC towards a huge range of analytes of different

  4. Preparation, microstructure and hydrogen sorption properties of nanoporous carbon aerogels under ambient drying

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian, H Y; Buckley, C E; Mule, S; Paskevicius, M; Dhal, B B

    2008-01-01

    Organic aerogels are prepared by the sol-gel method from polymerization of resorcinol with furfural. These aerogels are further carbonized in nitrogen in order to obtain their corresponding carbon aerogels (CA); a sample which was carbonized at 900 deg. C was also activated in a carbon dioxide atmosphere at 900 deg. C. The chemical reaction mechanism and optimum synthesis conditions are investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermoanalyses (thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyses) with a focus on the sol-gel process. The carbon aerogels were investigated with respect to their microstructures, using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption measurements at 77 K. SAXS studies showed that micropores with a radius of gyration of 2 g -1 displayed a reasonably high hydrogen uptake at 77 K with a maximum hydrogen sorption of 3.6 wt% at 2.5 MPa. These results suggest that CA are promising candidate hydrogen storage materials.

  5. Transparent Ethenylene-Bridged Polymethylsiloxane Aerogels: Mechanical Flexibility and Strength and Availability for Addition Reaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Taiyo; Kanamori, Kazuyoshi; Maeno, Ayaka; Kaji, Hironori; Doherty, Cara M; Nakanishi, Kazuki

    2017-05-09

    Transparent, low-density ethenylene-bridged polymethylsiloxane [Ethe-BPMS, O 2/2 (CH 3 )Si-CH═CH-Si(CH 3 )O 2/2 ] aerogels from 1,2-bis(methyldiethoxysilyl)ethene have successfully been synthesized via a sol-gel process. A two-step sol-gel process composed of hydrolysis under acidic conditions and polycondensation under basic conditions in a liquid surfactant produces a homogeneous pore structure based on cross-linked nanosized colloidal particles. Visible-light transmittance of the aerogels varies with the concentration of the base catalyst and reaches as high as 87% (at a wavelength of 550 nm for a 10 mm thick sample). Gelation and aging temperature strongly affect the deformation behavior of the resultant aerogels against uniaxial compression, and the obtained aerogels prepared at 80 °C show high elasticity after being unloaded. This highly resilient behavior is primarily derived from the rigidity of ethenylene groups, which is confirmed by a comparison with other aerogels with similar molecular structures, ethylene-bridged polymethylsiloxane and polymethylsilsesquioxane. Applicability of the addition reaction using a Diels-Alder reaction of benzocyclobutene has also been investigated, revealing that a successful addition takes place on the ethenylene linkings, which is verified using Raman and solid-state NMR spectroscopies. Insights into the effect of molecular structure on mechanical properties and the availability of surface functionalization provided in this study are important for realizing transparent aerogels with the desired functionality.

  6. Controlled generation of silver nanocolloid in amorphous silica materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gil, C.; Garcia-Heras, M.; Carmona, N.; Villages, M. A.

    2004-01-01

    Amorphous silica-based materials bulk and superficially doped with silver nano colloids were prepared. Bulk doped glasses were obtained by conventional melting and doped monolithic slabs by sol-gel. Superficially doped glasses were obtained by ion-exchange and doped coatings by sol-gel. The samples were characterised by TEM and UV-VIS spectrometry. Depending on the composition, the silver incorporation process, and the thermal treatments, several colourings were obtained. By controlling these parameters, metallic silver nano colloids can be generated in the matrices studied. Colloids aggregation and growing up depends on the matrix nature and on the experimental process carried out. (Author) 10 refs

  7. Design and Development of Aerogel-Based Antennas for Aerospace Applications: A Final Report to the NARI Seedling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meador, Mary Ann B.; Miranda, Felix A.

    2014-01-01

    As highly porous solids possessing low density and low dielectric permittivity combined with good mechanical properties, polyimide (PI) aerogels offer great promise as an enabling technology for lightweight aircraft antenna systems. While they have been aggressively explored for thermal insulation, barely any effort has been made to leverage these materials for antennas or other applications that take advantage of their aforementioned attributes. In Phase I of the NARI Seedling Project, we fabricated PI aerogels with properties tailored to enable new antenna concepts with performance characteristics (wide bandwidth and high gain) and material properties (low density, environmental stability, and robustness) superior to the state of practice (SOP). We characterized electromagnetic properties, including permittivity, reflectivity, and propagation losses for the aerogels. Simple, prototype planar printed circuit patch antennas from down-selected aerogel formulations were fabricated by molding the aerogels to net shapes and by gold-metalizing the pattern onto the templates via electron beam evaporation in a clean room environment. These aerogel based antennas were benchmarked against current antenna SOP, and exhibited both broader bandwidth and comparable or higher gain performance at appreciably lower mass. Phase II focused on the success of the Phase I results pushing the PI aerogel based antenna technology further by exploring alternative antenna design (i.e., slot coupled antennas) and by examining other techniques for fabricating the antennas including ink jet printing with the goal of optimizing antenna performance and simplifying production. We also examined new aerogel formulations with better moisture and solvent resistance to survive processing conditions. In addition, we investigated more complex antenna designs including passive phased arrays such as 2x4 and 4x8 element arrays to assess the scalability of the aerogel antenna concept. Furthermore, we

  8. Combining aerogels with honeycombs – a new stiff and flexible superinsulation

    OpenAIRE

    Schwan, Marina; Ratke, Lorenz; Milow, Barbara

    2014-01-01

    Saving energy is the most important issue in the 21st century. New high qualitative thermal insulation materials are of critical importance to energy-efficient building design, transportation and aircraft industry. We propose to combine aramid honeycombs with aerogels to manufacture such new types of advanced insulation materials. Aramid honeycombs produced from aramid fibers by the expansion method possess extremely high stiffness-to-weight ratio and are heat-resisting up to 550°C. Aerogels ...

  9. The influence of the matrix structure on the oxidation of aniline in a silica sol-gel composite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Widera, J.; Kijak, A.M.; Ca, D.V.; Pacey, G.E.; Taylor, R.T.; Perfect, H.; Cox, J.A.

    2005-01-01

    Mesoporous and microporous silica matrices were formed on indium tin oxide electrodes for liquid-phase voltammetry and as monoliths for solid-state voltammetry of aniline. The pore structure, which was verified by scanning probe microscopy and by surface area measurement, was directed by either control of pH during sol-gel processing or by inclusion of a templating agent. Whether aniline was included as a dopant in the sol-gel or as a component of the contacting liquid, the pore size influenced the coupling of the product of its electrochemical oxidation. With microporous silica, the dominant products were dimers and related short-chain products whereas with mesoporous silica, polymerization was suggested. As a step toward the formation of polyaniline (PANI) that is covalently anchored to the sol-gel, the electrochemistry of aniline was investigated using composites prepared from sols comprising tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), 3-aminophenyl-[3-triethoxylsilyl)-propyl] urea (ormosil), and aniline in various ratios. Combinatorial chemistry identified that the optimum combination of silica precursors in terms of obtaining PANI was a 1:12 mole ratio of ormosil:TEOS

  10. Development and characterization of silica and titania based nano structured materials for the removal of indoor and outdoor air pollutants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peiris, Thelge Manindu Nirasha

    Solar energy driven catalytic systems have gained popularity in environmental remediation recently. Various photocatalytic systems have been reported in this regard and most of the photocatalysts are based on well-known semiconducting material, Titanium Dioxide, while some are based on other materials such as Silicon Dioxide and various Zeolites. However, in titania based photocatalysts, titania is actively involved in the catalytic mechanism by absorbing light and generating exitons. Because of this vast popularity of titania in the field of photocatalysis it is believed that photocatalysis mainly occurs via non-localized mechanisms and semiconductors are extremely important. Even though it is still rare, photocatalysis could be localized and possible without use of a semiconductor as well. Thus, to support localized photocatalytic systems, and to compare the activity to titania based systems, degradation of organic air pollutants by nanostructured silica, titania and mixed silica titania systems were studied. New materials were prepared using two different approaches, precipitation technique (xerogel) and aerogel preparation technique. The prepared xerogel samples were doped with both metal (silver) and non-metals (carbon and sulfur) and aerogel samples were loaded with Chromium, Cobalt and Vanadium separately, in order to achieve visible light photocatalytic activity. Characterization studies of the materials were carried out using Nova BET analysis, DR UV-vis spectrometry, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, etc. Kinetics of the catalytic activities was studied using a Shimadzu GCMS-QP 5000 instrument using a closed glass reactor. All the experiments were carried out in gaseous phase using acetaldehyde as the model pollutant. Kinetic results suggest that chromium doped silica systems are good UV and visible light active photocatalysts. This is a good example for a localized

  11. Graphene oxide-based composite monolith as new sorbent for the on-line solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography determination of ß-sitosterol in food samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Beijiao; Guo, Bin; Wang, Huimin; Zhang, Doudou; Liu, Haiyan; Bai, Ligai; Yan, Hongyuan; Han, Dandan

    2018-08-15

    A composite monolithic column was prepared by redox initiation method for the on-line purification and enrichment of β-sitosterol, in which graphene oxide (GO) was embedded. The obtained monolithic column was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm measurement, which indicated that the monolith possessed characteristics of porous structure and high permeability. Under the optimum conditions for extraction and determination, the calibration equation was y = 47.92 × -0.1391; the linear range was 0.008-1.0 mg mL -1 ; the linear regression coefficient was 0.998; the limit of detection (LOD) is 2.4 μg mL -1 ; the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 8 μg mL -1 ; precisions for intra-day and inter-day assays presented as relative standard deviations were less than 4.3% and 6.8%, respectively. Under the selective conditions, the enrichment factor of the method was 119. The recovery was in the range of 80.40-98.00%. Moreover, the adsorption amount of the monolith was compared with silica gel-C18 adsorbent and the monolith without graphene oxide being embedded. The polymerization monolithic column showed high selectivity and good permeability, and it was successfully used as on-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) column for determination of β-sitosterol in edible oil. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Silica research in Glasgow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barr, B W; Cagnoli, G; Casey, M M; Clubley, D; Crooks, D R M; Danzmann, K; Elliffe, E J; Gossler, S; Grant, A; Grote, H; Heptonstall, A; Hough, J; Jennrich, O; Lueck, H; McIntosh, S A; Newton, G P; Palmer, D A; Plissi, M V; Robertson, D I; Robertson, N A; Rowan, S; Skeldon, K D; Sneddon, P; Strain, K A; Torrie, C I; Ward, H; Willems, P A; Willke, B; Winkler, W

    2002-01-01

    The Glasgow group is involved in the construction of the GEO600 interferometer as well as in R and D activity on technology for advanced gravitational wave detectors. GEO600 will be the first GW detector using quasi-monolithic silica suspensions in order to decrease thermal noise significantly with respect to steel wire suspensions. The results concerning GEO600 suspension mounting and performance will be shown in the first section. Section 2 is devoted to the present results from the direct measurement of thermal noise in mirrors mounted in the 10 m interferometer in Glasgow which has a sensitivity limit of 4 x 10 -19 m Hz -1/2 above 1 kHz. Section 3 presents results on the measurements of coating losses. R and D activity has been carried out to understand better how thermal noise in the suspensions affects the detector sensitivity, and in section 4 a discussion on the non-linear thermoelastic effect is presented

  13. Silica research in Glasgow

    CERN Document Server

    Barr, B W; Casey, M M; Clubley, D; Crooks, D R M; Danzmann, K; Elliffe, E J; Gossler, S; Grant, A; Grote, H; Heptonstall, A; Hough, J; Jennrich, O; Lück, H B; McIntosh, S A; Newton, G P; Palmer, D A; Plissi, M V; Robertson, D I; Robertson, N A; Rowan, S; Skeldon, K D; Sneddon, P; Strain, K A; Torrie, C I; Ward, H; Willems, P A; Willke, B; Winkler, W

    2002-01-01

    The Glasgow group is involved in the construction of the GEO600 interferometer as well as in R and D activity on technology for advanced gravitational wave detectors. GEO600 will be the first GW detector using quasi-monolithic silica suspensions in order to decrease thermal noise significantly with respect to steel wire suspensions. The results concerning GEO600 suspension mounting and performance will be shown in the first section. Section 2 is devoted to the present results from the direct measurement of thermal noise in mirrors mounted in the 10 m interferometer in Glasgow which has a sensitivity limit of 4 x 10 sup - sup 1 sup 9 m Hz sup - sup 1 sup / sup 2 above 1 kHz. Section 3 presents results on the measurements of coating losses. R and D activity has been carried out to understand better how thermal noise in the suspensions affects the detector sensitivity, and in section 4 a discussion on the non-linear thermoelastic effect is presented.

  14. Ultrasound propagation in dense aerogels filled with liquid 4He

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsumoto, K; Ohmori, K; Abe, S; Kanamori, K; Nakanishi, K

    2012-01-01

    Longitudinal ultrasound propagation was studied in dense aerogels filled with liquid 4 He. Sound velocity and attenuation were measured at the frequency of 6 MHz in both normal and superfluid phases. Pressure dependence of velocity and attenuation were also studied. Studied aerogels had porosities about 85%. They had two different types of structure, tangled strand structure and aggregated particles structure. The pore size distributions were narrow. Reduction of superfluid transition temperature mainly depended on not porosity but mean pore size. The structure of gel played an important role in sound velocity and attenuation.

  15. Preparation, Characterization and Activity of a Peptide-Cellulosic Aerogel Protease Sensor from Cotton

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Vincent Edwards

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Nanocellulosic aerogels (NA provide a lightweight biocompatible material with structural properties, like interconnected high porosity and specific surface area, suitable for biosensor design. We report here the preparation, characterization and activity of peptide-nanocellulose aerogels (PepNA made from unprocessed cotton and designed with protease detection activity. Low-density cellulosic aerogels were prepared from greige cotton by employing calcium thiocyanate octahydrate/lithium chloride as a direct cellulose dissolving medium. Subsequent casting, coagulation, solvent exchange and supercritical carbon dioxide drying afforded homogeneous cellulose II aerogels of fibrous morphology. The cotton-based aerogel had a porosity of 99% largely dominated by mesopores (2–50 nm and an internal surface of 163 m2·g−1. A fluorescent tripeptide-substrate (succinyl-alanine-proline-alanine-4-amino-7-methyl-coumarin was tethered to NA by (1 esterification of cellulose C6 surface hydroxyl groups with glycidyl-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (FMOC, (2 deprotection and (3 coupling of the immobilized glycine with the tripeptide. Characterization of the NA and PepNA included techniques, such as elemental analysis, mass spectral analysis, attenuated total reflectance infrared imaging, nitrogen adsorption, scanning electron microscopy and bioactivity studies. The degree of substitution of the peptide analog attached to the anhydroglucose units of PepNA was 0.015. The findings from mass spectral analysis and attenuated total reflectance infrared imaging indicated that the peptide substrate was immobilized on to the surface of the NA. Nitrogen adsorption revealed a high specific surface area and a highly porous system, which supports the open porous structure observed from scanning electron microscopy images. Bioactivity studies of PepNA revealed a detection sensitivity of 0.13 units/milliliter for human neutrophil elastase, a diagnostic biomarker for inflammatory

  16. Flexible, highly graphitized carbon aerogels based on bacterial cellulose/lignin: Catalyst-free synthesis and its application in energy storage devices

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Xuezhu; Zhou, Jian; Nagaraju, Doddahalli H.; Jiang, Long; Marinov, Val R.; Lubineau, Gilles; Alshareef, Husam N.; Oh, Myungkeun

    2015-01-01

    Currently, most carbon aerogels are based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or graphene, which are produced through a catalyst-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. Biomass based organic aerogels and carbon aerogels, featuring low cost, high

  17. A Co-Precursor Approach Coupled with a Supercritical Modification Method for Constructing Highly Transparent and Superhydrophobic Polymethylsilsesquioxane Aerogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Chaoshuai; Li, Junning; Sun, Chencheng; Yang, Hailong; Xia, Tao; Hu, Zijun; Zhang, Yue

    2018-03-30

    Polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSQ) aerogels obtained from methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) are well-known high-performance porous materials. Highly transparent and hydrophobic PMSQ aerogel would play an important role in transparent vacuum insulation panels. Herein, the co-precursor approach and supercritical modification method were developed to prepare the PMSQ aerogels with high transparency and superhydrophobicity. Firstly, benefiting from the introduction of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) in the precursor, the pore structure became more uniform and the particle size was decreased. As the TMOS content increased, the light transmittance increased gradually from 54.0% to 81.2%, whereas the contact angle of water droplet decreased from 141° to 99.9°, ascribed to the increase of hydroxyl groups on the skeleton surface. Hence, the supercritical modification method utilizing hexamethyldisilazane was also introduced to enhance the hydrophobic methyl groups on the aerogel's surface. As a result, the obtained aerogels revealed superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of 155°. Meanwhile, the developed surface modification method did not lead to any significant changes in the pore structure resulting in the superhydrophobic aerogel with a high transparency of 77.2%. The proposed co-precursor approach and supercritical modification method provide a new horizon in the fabrication of highly transparent and superhydrophobic PMSQ aerogels.

  18. Non-Parametric Kinetic (NPK Analysis of Thermal Oxidation of Carbon Aerogels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azadeh Seifi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, much attention has been paid to aerogel materials (especially carbon aerogels due to their potential uses in energy-related applications, such as thermal energy storage and thermal protection systems. These open cell carbon-based porous materials (carbon aerogels can strongly react with oxygen at relatively low temperatures (~ 400°C. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the thermal performance of carbon aerogels in view of their energy-related applications at high temperatures and under thermal oxidation conditions. The objective of this paper is to study theoretically and experimentally the oxidation reaction kinetics of carbon aerogel using the non-parametric kinetic (NPK as a powerful method. For this purpose, a non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis, at three different heating rates, was performed on three samples each with its specific pore structure, density and specific surface area. The most significant feature of this method, in comparison with the model-free isoconversional methods, is its ability to separate the functionality of the reaction rate with the degree of conversion and temperature by the direct use of thermogravimetric data. Using this method, it was observed that the Nomen-Sempere model could provide the best fit to the data, while the temperature dependence of the rate constant was best explained by a Vogel-Fulcher relationship, where the reference temperature was the onset temperature of oxidation. Moreover, it was found from the results of this work that the assumption of the Arrhenius relation for the temperature dependence of the rate constant led to over-estimation of the apparent activation energy (up to 160 kJ/mol that was considerably different from the values (up to 3.5 kJ/mol predicted by the Vogel-Fulcher relationship in isoconversional methods

  19. Coupling between Solid 3He on Aerogel and Superfluid 3He in the Low Temperature Limit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bradley, D. I.; Fisher, S. N.; Guenault, A. M.; Haley, R. P.; Pickett, G. R.; Tsepelin, V.; Whitehead, R. C. V.; Skyba, P.

    2006-01-01

    We have cooled liquid 3He contained in a 98% open aerogel sample surrounded by bulk superfluid 3He-B at zero pressure to below 120 μK. The aerogel sample is placed in a quasiparticle blackbody radiator cooled by a Lancaster-style nuclear cooling stage to ∼200 μK. We monitor the temperature of the 3He inside the blackbody radiator using a vibrating wire resonator. We find that reducing the magnetic field on the aerogel sample causes substantial cooling of all the superfluid inside the blackbody radiator. We believe this is due to the demagnetization of the solid 3He layers on the aerogel strands. This system has potential for achieving extremely low temperatures in the confined fluid

  20. Cobalt sulfide aerogel prepared by anion exchange method with enhanced pseudocapacitive and water oxidation performances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Qiuyue; Shi, Zhenyu; Xue, Kaiming; Ye, Ziran; Hong, Zhanglian; Yu, Xinyao; Zhi, Mingjia

    2018-05-01

    This work introduces the anion exchange method into the sol-gel process for the first time to prepare a metal sulfide aerogel. A porous Co9S8 aerogel with a high surface area (274.2 m2 g‑1) and large pore volume (0.87 cm3 g‑1) has been successfully prepared by exchanging cobalt citrate wet gel in thioacetamide and subsequently drying in supercritical ethanol. Such a Co9S8 aerogel shows enhanced supercapacitive performance and catalytic activity toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) compared to its oxide aerogel counterpart. High specific capacitance (950 F g‑1 at 1 A g‑1), good rate capability (74.3% capacitance retention from 1 to 20 A g‑1) and low onset overpotential for OER (220 mV) were observed. The results demonstrated here have implications in preparing various sulfide chalcogels.

  1. Microfluidic devices and methods including porous polymer monoliths

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatch, Anson V; Sommer, Gregory J; Singh, Anup K; Wang, Ying-Chih; Abhyankar, Vinay V

    2014-04-22

    Microfluidic devices and methods including porous polymer monoliths are described. Polymerization techniques may be used to generate porous polymer monoliths having pores defined by a liquid component of a fluid mixture. The fluid mixture may contain iniferters and the resulting porous polymer monolith may include surfaces terminated with iniferter species. Capture molecules may then be grafted to the monolith pores.

  2. Aerogel to simulate delamination and porosity defects in carbon-fiber reinforced polymer composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juarez, Peter; Leckey, Cara A. C.

    2018-04-01

    Representative defect standards are essential for the validation and calibration of new and existing inspection techniques. However, commonly used methods of simulating delaminations in carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites do not accurately represent the behavior of the real-world defects for several widely-used NDE techniques. For instance, it is common practice to create a delamination standard by inserting Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in between ply layers. However, PTFE can transmit more ultrasonic energy than actual delaminations, leading to an unrealistic representation of the defect inspection. PTFE can also deform/wrinkle during the curing process and has a thermal effusivity two orders of magnitude higher than air (almost equal to that of a CFRP). It is therefore not effective in simulating a delamination for thermography. Currently there is also no standard practice for producing or representing a known porosity in composites. This paper presents a novel method of creating delamination and porosity standards using aerogel. Insertion of thin sheets of solid aerogel between ply layers during layup is shown to produce air-gap-like delaminations creating realistic ultrasonic and thermographic inspection responses. Furthermore, it is shown that depositing controlled amounts of aerogel powder can represent porosity. Micrograph data verifies the structural integrity of the aerogel through the composite curing process. This paper presents data from multiple NDE methods, including X-ray computed tomography, immersion ultrasound, and flash thermography to the effectiveness of aerogel as a delamination and porosity simulant.

  3. CEC-atmospheric pressure ionization MS of pesticides using a surfactant-bound monolithic column.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Congying; Shamsi, Shahab A

    2010-04-01

    A surfactant bound poly (11-acrylaminoundecanoic acid-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolithic column was simply prepared by in situ co-polymerization of 11-acrylaminoundecanoic acid and ethylene dimethacrylate with 1-propanol, 1,4-butanediol and water as porogens in 100 microm id fused-silica capillary in one step. This column was used in CEC-atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI)-MS system for separation and detection of N-methylcarbamates pesticides. Numerous parameters are optimized for CEC-APPI-MS. After evaluation of the mobile phase composition, sheath liquid composition and the monolithic capillary outlet position, a fractional factorial design was selected as a screening procedure to identify factors of ionization source parameters, such as sheath liquid flow rate, drying gas flow rate, drying gas temperature, nebulizing gas pressure, vaporizer temperature and capillary voltage, which significantly influence APPI-MS sensitivity. A face-centered central composite design was further utilized to optimize the most significant parameters and predict the best sensitivity. Under optimized conditions, S/Ns around 78 were achieved for an injection of 100 ng/mL of each pesticide. Finally, this CEC-APPI-MS method was successfully applied to the analysis of nine N-methylcarbamates in spiked apple juice sample after solid phase extraction with recoveries in the range of 65-109%.

  4. Preparation of activated carbon aerogel and its application to electrode material for electric double layer capacitor in organic electrolyte: Effect of activation temperature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kwon, Soon Hyung; Lee, Eunji; Kim, Myung-Soo; Jung, Ji Chul [Myongji University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Bum-Soo; Kim, Sang-Gil; Lee, Byung-Jun [Vitzrocell Co., Yesan (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-02-15

    Carbon aerogel was chemically activated with KOH at various activation temperatures with the aim of improving the electrochemical performance of carbon aerogel for EDLC electrode. Electrochemical performance of activated carbon aerogel electrode was determined by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge methods using coin-type EDLC cell in organic electrolyte. Activation temperature played an important role in determining the electrochemical performance of activated carbon aerogel for EDLC electrode. Specific capacitance of activated carbon aerogel at a high current density (5 A/g) showed a volcano-shaped curve with respect to activation temperature. Excessively high activation temperature could have an adverse effect on the electrochemical properties of activated carbon aerogel due to the low electrical conductivity caused by a collapse of characteristic structure of carbon aerogel. Among the carbon samples, carbon aerogel activated at 800 .deg. C with a high surface area and a well-developed porous structure exhibited the highest specific capacitance. In addition, carbon aerogel activated at 800 .deg. C retained a considerable specific capacitance at a high current density even after 1000 cycles of charge/discharge. Therefore, it is concluded that carbon aerogel activated with KOH at 800 .deg. C can serve as an efficient electrode material for commercial EDLC with a high power density.

  5. Stardust: An overview of the tracks in the aerogel (calibration, classification and particle size distribution)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burchell, M. J.; Fairey, S. J.; Hörz, F.; Wozniakiewicz, P. J.; Kearsley, A. T.; Brownlee, D. E.; See, T. H.; Westphal, A.; Green, S. F.; Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M.

    2007-08-01

    The NASA Stardust mission (1) to comet P/Wild-2 returned to Earth in January 2006 carrying a cargo of dust captured in aerogel and residue rich craters in aluminium foils (2). Aerogel is a low density, highly porous material (3, 4). The aerogel that was carried by Stardust in the cometary dust collector trays was a SiO2 aerogel, arranged in blocks 4 cm x 2 cm (front face) and 3 cm deep, with density which varied smoothly from 5 mg/cc at the front surface to 50 mg/cc at the rear surface (5). A first look at the whole cometary dust tray at NASA showed that there were many impact features in the aerogel. During the Preliminary Examination period about 15% of the aerogel blocks were removed and studied in detail. The tracks observed in these blocks were classified into three groups: Type A were long relatively narrow tracks of "carrot shape", Type B tracks were again fairly long but had a large bulbous region at the top and appear like the bowl and stem of a flute champagne glass, Type C were purely bulbous tracks with no stem emerging beneath them. Data on the sizes and relative populations of these tracks will be given (also see (6)) along with a discussion of their implications for impactor composition. Laboratory calibrations of the impacts in aerogel have been carried out using glass beads and these permit an estimate of the size of the impactor based on the measured track properties (6). When applied to the tracks measured in the Stardust aerogel, a cumulative particle size distribution was obtained (7) which will be discussed. References (1) Brownlee D.E. et al., J. Geophys. Res. 108, E10, 8111, 2003. (2) Brownlee D.E. et al., Science 314, 1711 - 1716. 2006. (3) Kistler S.S., Nature 127, 741, 1931. (4) Burchell M.J. et al., Ann. Rev. Earth. Planet. Sci. 34, 385 - 418, 2006. (5) Tsou P. et al., J. Geophys. Res. 108(E10), 8113, 2003. (6) Burchell et al., submitted to MAPS, 2006. (7) Hörz F. et al., Science 314, 1716 - 1719, 2006.

  6. Carbon aerogels as electrode material for electrical double layer supercapacitors-Synthesis and properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Halama, Agnieszka [Electrotechnical Institute, Division of Electrotechnology and Materials Science, Wroclaw (Poland); Szubzda, Bronislaw, E-mail: szubzda@iel.wroc.p [Electrotechnical Institute, Division of Electrotechnology and Materials Science, Wroclaw (Poland); Pasciak, Grzegorz [Electrotechnical Institute, Division of Electrotechnology and Materials Science, Wroclaw (Poland)

    2010-10-30

    This paper constitutes a description of technological research the aim of which was to design a symmetric supercapacitor dedicated for the system of quality of electrical energy improvement (supply interruption, voltage dip). The main task was to use the carbon aerogel technology as the efficient method for production of electrode material with desirable properties. Carbon aerogels were prepared by carbonization of resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) polymer gels. RF-gels were synthesized by curing polycondensation and by the inverse emulsion polymerization of resorcinol with formaldehyde, followed by microwave drying. The morphostructural characteristics of the carbon aerogels were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the N{sub 2} adsorption (BET method). The electrochemical properties were characterized by means of cycle voltammetry, galvanostatic charging/discharging, and self-discharge.

  7. Using of Aerogel to Improve Thermal Insulating Properties of Windows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valachova, Denisa; Zdrazilova, Nada; Panovec, Vladan; Skotnicova, Iveta

    2018-06-01

    For the best possible thermal-technical properties of building structures it is necessary to use materials with very low thermal conductivity. Due to the increasing thermal-technical requirements for building structures, the insulating materials are developed. One of the modern thermal insulating materials is so-called aerogel. Unfortunately, this material is not used in the field of external thermal insulation composite systems because of its price and its properties. The aim of this paper is to present possibilities of using this insulating material in the civil engineering - specifically a usage of aerogel in the production of windows.

  8. Monolithic spectrometer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rajic, Slobodan (Knoxville, TN); Egert, Charles M. (Oak Ridge, TN); Kahl, William K. (Knoxville, TN); Snyder, Jr., William B. (Knoxville, TN); Evans, III, Boyd M. (Oak Ridge, TN); Marlar, Troy A. (Knoxville, TN); Cunningham, Joseph P. (Oak Ridge, TN)

    1998-01-01

    A monolithic spectrometer is disclosed for use in spectroscopy. The spectrometer is a single body of translucent material with positioned surfaces for the transmission, reflection and spectral analysis of light rays.

  9. Monolithic optofluidic ring resonator lasers created by femtosecond laser nanofabrication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandrahalim, Hengky; Chen, Qiushu; Said, Ali A; Dugan, Mark; Fan, Xudong

    2015-05-21

    We designed, fabricated, and characterized a monolithically integrated optofluidic ring resonator laser that is mechanically, thermally, and chemically robust. The entire device, including the ring resonator channel and sample delivery microfluidics, was created in a block of fused-silica glass using a 3-dimensional femtosecond laser writing process. The gain medium, composed of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dissolved in quinoline, was flowed through the ring resonator. Lasing was achieved at a pump threshold of approximately 15 μJ mm(-2). Detailed analysis shows that the Q-factor of the optofluidic ring resonator is 3.3 × 10(4), which is limited by both solvent absorption and scattering loss. In particular, a Q-factor resulting from the scattering loss can be as high as 4.2 × 10(4), suggesting the feasibility of using a femtosecond laser to create high quality optical cavities.

  10. Preparation, microstructure and hydrogen sorption properties of nanoporous carbon aerogels under ambient drying

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, H. Y.; Buckley, C. E.; Mulè, S.; Paskevicius, M.; Dhal, B. B.

    2008-11-01

    Organic aerogels are prepared by the sol-gel method from polymerization of resorcinol with furfural. These aerogels are further carbonized in nitrogen in order to obtain their corresponding carbon aerogels (CA); a sample which was carbonized at 900 °C was also activated in a carbon dioxide atmosphere at 900 °C. The chemical reaction mechanism and optimum synthesis conditions are investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermoanalyses (thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyses) with a focus on the sol-gel process. The carbon aerogels were investigated with respect to their microstructures, using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption measurements at 77 K. SAXS studies showed that micropores with a radius of gyration of adsorption showed that larger mesopores were also present. Hydrogen storage properties of the CA were also investigated. An activated sample with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 1539 ± 20 m2 g-1 displayed a reasonably high hydrogen uptake at 77 K with a maximum hydrogen sorption of 3.6 wt% at 2.5 MPa. These results suggest that CA are promising candidate hydrogen storage materials.

  11. The dynamics of monolithic suspensions for advanced detectors: A 3-segment model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Piergiovanni, F; Campagna, E; Cesarini, E; Martelli, F; Vetrano, F; Vicere, A [Universita di Urbino, Via S.Chiara 27, 61029 Urbino (Italy); Lorenzini, M; Cagnoli, G; Losurdo, G, E-mail: piergiovanni@fi.infn.i [INFN, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy)

    2010-05-01

    In order to reduce the suspension thermal noise, the second generation GW interferometric detectors will employ monolithic suspensions in fused silica to hold the mirrors. The fibres are produced by melting and pulling apart a fused silica rod, obtaining a long thin wire with two thicker heads. The dynamics of such a fibre is in principle different from that of a cylindrical, regular fibre, because most of the deformation energy is stored in the neck region where the diameter is variable. This is an advantage, since adjusting the neck tapering, a thermoelastic noise cancellation effect can be obtained. Therefore, a careful study of the suspensions behavior is necessary to estimate the overall noise and to optimize the control strategy. To simplify the control design, a simple three segment model for the silica fibres has been developed, fully equivalent to the beam equation at low frequencies. The model, analytically proved for a regular cylindrical fibre, can be extended to a fibre with tapered necks, provided that the equivalent bending length is suitably measured. We developed a tool to measure the position of the bending point for each fibre, thus allowing to experimentally check the validity of the model. A numerical code has been written to solve the beam equation for wires with varying diameter. This code confirms the validity of the three segment model. Moreover, it is possible to extend the solution to higher frequencies thus computing the transfer function and the energy distribution of the suspension system and estimating the thermal noise contribution.

  12. Da-KGM based GO-reinforced FMBO-loaded aerogels for efficient arsenic removal in aqueous solution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Shuxin; Jin, Weiping; Huang, Qing; Hu, Ying; Li, Yan; Li, Jing; Li, Bin

    2017-01-01

    Composites based on deacetylated konjac glucomannan (Da-KGM) and graphene oxide (GO) aerogels with iron and manganese oxides (FMBO) for effective removal of arsenic from contaminated water. Da-KGM, which was used as supporting composite matrix here, were firstly treated with GO and loaded FMBO. The obtained Da-KGM/GO/FMBO composite aerogels were characterized by compression test, thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The characteristic results showed that addition of GO exhibited enhanced mechanical properties towards Da-KGM aerogels. What's more, results of FTIR indicated the strong intermolecular hydrogen bond interaction between KGM and GO. Batch adsorption tests were used to evaluate arsenic removal capacity. Da-KGM/GO loaded FMBO composite aerogels exhibited high adsorption ability for arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)]. The adsorption results showed that the arsenic for both arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] removal process followed a pseudo-second-order rate equation and Langmuir monolayer adsorption. The maximum As(III) and As(V) uptake capacity of Da-KGM/GO(10%)/FMBO composite aerogels reached 30.21mgg -1 and 12.08mgg -1 respectively according to Langmuir isotherm at pH 7 and 323K. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Crystal spectroscopy of silicon aero-gel end-caps driven by a dynamic hohlraum on Z

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nash, T.J.; Sanford, T.W.L.; Mock, R.C.; Leeper, R.J.; Chandler, G.A.; Bailey, J.E.; McKenney, J.L.; Mehlhorn, T.A.; Seaman, J.F.; McGurn, J.; Schroen, D.; Russell, C.; Lake, P.E.; Jobe, D.O.; Gilliland, T.; Nielsen, D.S.; Lucas, J.; Moore, T.; Torres, J.A.; MacFarlane, J.J.; Apruzese, J.P.; Chrien, R.; Idzorek, G.; Peterson, D.L.; Watt, R.

    2005-01-01

    We present results from crystal spectroscopic analysis of silicon aero-gel foams heated by dynamic hohlraums on Z. The dynamic hohlraum on Z creates a radiation source with a 230-eV average temperature over a 2.4-mm diameter. In these experiments silicon aero-gel foams with 10-mg/cm3 densities and 1.7-mm lengths were placed on both ends of the dynamic hohlraum. Several crystal spectrometers were placed both above and below the z-pinch to diagnose the temperature of the silicon aero-gel foam using the K-shell lines of silicon. The crystal spectrometers were (1) temporally integrated and spatially resolved, (2) temporally resolved and spatially integrated, and (3) both temporally and spatially resolved. The results indicate that the dynamic hohlraum heats the silicon aero-gel to approximately 150-eV at peak power. As the dynamic hohlraum source cools after peak power the silicon aero-gel continues to heat and jets axially at an average velocity of approximately 50-cm/μs. The spectroscopy has also shown that the reason for the up/down asymmetry in radiated power on Z is that tungsten enters the line-of-sight on the bottom of the machine much more than on the top

  14. New Ti3C2 aerogel as promising negative electrode materials for asymmetric supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lu; Zhang, Mingyi; Zhang, Xitian; Zhang, Zhiguo

    2017-10-01

    Novel 3D Ti3C2 aerogel has been first synthesized by a simple EDA-assisted self-assembly process. Its inside are channels and pores structure. The interconnected aerogel structure could efficiently restrain restacking of Ti3C2 flakes. Thus, it exhibits a large specific surface area as high as 176.3 m2 g-1. The electrochemical performances have been measured. The Ti3C2 aerogel achieves a quite high areal capacitance of 1012.5 mF cm-2 for the mass loading of 15 mg at a scan rate of 2 mV s-1 in 1 M KOH electrolyte. An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) has been assembled by using the Ti3C2 aerogel electrode as the negative electrode and electrospinning carbon nanofiber film as the positive electrode. The device can deliver a high energy density of 120.0 μWh cm-2 and a maximum power density of 26123 μW cm-2. A lamp panel with nineteen red light-emitting diodes has been powered by two ASCs in series.

  15. Study of transport properties and conduction mechanism of pure and composite resorcinol formaldehyde aerogel doped with Co-ferrite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Attia, S.M.; Sharshar, T.; Abd-Elwahed, A.R.; Tawfik, A.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel composite RF aerogels with Co-ferrite were prepared by sol–gel process. • RF aerogels exhibit a semiconducting behavior. • The dielectric constant of RF aerogel is very low (4 times as that of air) and can be controlled by adding Co-ferrite. • Large overlapping polaron (OLP) was found to be the preferred conduction mechanism in these materials. -- Abstract: A series of resorcinol formaldehyde aerogels (RF aerogels) composite with nanoparticles of CoFe 2 O 4 have been prepared by sol–gel method. Four samples of pure RF aerogels were prepared at different concentrations of Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst (0.02, 0.025, 0.03, and 0.04 wt.%) and four samples of composite RF aerogels were prepared at different concentration of doped CoFe 2 O 4 (0.075, 0.1, 0.125, and 0.15 wt.%; Na 2 CO 3 concentration = 0.03 wt.%). DC electrical conductivity as a function of temperature was studied in the temperature range 25 °C–200 °C for all samples. AC electrical conductivity and dielectric properties were determined using RLC Bridge in the frequency range 100 Hz–1 MHz at different temperature (25–200 °C). The pore size of the samples was determined using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). RF aerogels are found to exhibit a semiconducting behavior and characterized by two transition temperatures T 1 and T 2 . Also σ DC increases with increase of Co-ferrite contents. Pure RF aerogels posses a very low dielectric constant, where the lowest value of ε′ is ∼4 times as that of air. ε′ decreases with increase of frequency, and increases with increase of temperature. Large overlapping polaron (OLP) is found to be the preferred conduction mechanism in these materials. The results of PALS show that there are two types of pore size in these samples; the first ranges from 1.9 to 2.5 nm, while the second ranges from 3.2 to 5.3 nm

  16. Readout ASICs and Electronics for the 144-channel HAPDs for the Aerogel RICH at Belle II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishida, S.; Adachi, I.; Ikeda, H.; Hara, K.; Iijima, T.; Iwata, S.; Korpar, S.; Križan, P.; Kuroda, E.; Pestotnik, R.; Seljak, A.; Sumiyoshi, T.; Takagaki, H.

    The particle identification (PID) device in the endcap of the Belle detector will be upgraded to a ring imaging Cherenkov counter (RICH) using aerogel as a radiator at the Belle II experiment. We develop the electronics to read out the 70,000 channels of hit information from the 144-channel hybrid avalanche photodetectors (HAPD), of the aerogel RICH detector. A readout ASIC is developed to digitize the HAPD signals, and was used in a beam test with the prototype detector. The performance and plan of the ASIC is reported in this study. We have also designed the readout electronics for the aerogel RICH, which consist of front-end boards with the ASICs merger boards to collect data from the front-end boards. A front-end board that fits in the actual available space for the aerogel RICH electronics was produced.

  17. Experimental and Computational Studies of Heat Transfer in Complex Internal Flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-01-01

    space having cross-sectional dimensions of 21.6 x 21.6 cm (8.5 x 8.5 in.). Into this space was poured silica aerogel powder insulation whose thermal...types of insulation (silica aerogel and styrofoam) and the surround- ing wooden containment structure. A total of 1600 grid points were used to resolve...Young, G., and Iverson, H. W., "An Investigation of Aircraft Heaters XXVII--Distribution of Heat Transfer Rate in the Entrance Section of a Circular

  18. Observation of a second-sound-like mode in superfluid-filled aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKenna, M.J.; Slawecki, T.; Maynard, J.D.

    1991-01-01

    Superfluid 4 He is interesting acoustically because it can support more than one mode of sound propagation, and these can be used to study critical properties. Recently, there has been interest in superfluid-filled aerogels, but for such compressible materials one does not observe the ordinary (fourth) sound; instead there is a mode intermediate between first and fourth sound and a second-sound-like mode. We present a theory for the modes and the first observation of the aerogel second-sound-like mode, which is important because it propagates near the critical temperature

  19. Activated Carbon Fiber Monoliths as Supercapacitor Electrodes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gelines Moreno-Fernandez

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Activated carbon fibers (ACF are interesting candidates for electrodes in electrochemical energy storage devices; however, one major drawback for practical application is their low density. In the present work, monoliths were synthesized from two different ACFs, reaching 3 times higher densities than the original ACFs’ apparent densities. The porosity of the monoliths was only slightly decreased with respect to the pristine ACFs, the employed PVDC binder developing additional porosity upon carbonization. The ACF monoliths are essentially microporous and reach BET surface areas of up to 1838 m2 g−1. SEM analysis reveals that the ACFs are well embedded into the monolith structure and that their length was significantly reduced due to the monolith preparation process. The carbonized monoliths were studied as supercapacitor electrodes in two- and three-electrode cells having 2 M H2SO4 as electrolyte. Maximum capacitances of around 200 F g−1 were reached. The results confirm that the capacitance of the bisulfate anions essentially originates from the double layer, while hydronium cations contribute with a mixture of both, double layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance.

  20. Monolithic solid-state lasers for spaceflight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krainak, Michael A.; Yu, Anthony W.; Stephen, Mark A.; Merritt, Scott; Glebov, Leonid; Glebova, Larissa; Ryasnyanskiy, Aleksandr; Smirnov, Vadim; Mu, Xiaodong; Meissner, Stephanie; Meissner, Helmuth

    2015-02-01

    A new solution for building high power, solid state lasers for space flight is to fabricate the whole laser resonator in a single (monolithic) structure or alternatively to build a contiguous diffusion bonded or welded structure. Monolithic lasers provide numerous advantages for space flight solid-state lasers by minimizing misalignment concerns. The closed cavity is immune to contamination. The number of components is minimized thus increasing reliability. Bragg mirrors serve as the high reflector and output coupler thus minimizing optical coatings and coating damage. The Bragg mirrors also provide spectral and spatial mode selection for high fidelity. The monolithic structure allows short cavities resulting in short pulses. Passive saturable absorber Q-switches provide a soft aperture for spatial mode filtering and improved pointing stability. We will review our recent commercial and in-house developments toward fully monolithic solid-state lasers.

  1. Aerogels made of chitosan and chondroitin sulfate at high degree of neutralization: Biological properties toward wound healing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Concha, Miguel; Vidal, Alejandra; Giacaman, Annesi; Ojeda, Javier; Pavicic, Francisca; Oyarzun-Ampuero, Felipe A; Torres, César; Cabrera, Marcela; Moreno-Villoslada, Ignacio; Orellana, Sandra L

    2018-02-09

    In this study, highly neutralized, highly porous, and ultralight polymeric aerogels prepared from aqueous colloidal suspensions of chitosan (CS) and chondroitin sulfate (ChS) nanocomplexes, formulated as quasi-equimolar amounts of both, are described. These aerogels were designed as healing agents under the inspiration of minimizing the amount of matter applied to wounds, reducing the electrostatic potential of the material and avoiding covalent cross-linkers in order to decrease metabolic stress over wounds. Aerogels synthesized under these criteria are biocompatible and provide specific properties for the induction of wound healing. They do not affect neither the metabolic activity of cultured 3T3 fibroblasts nor the biochemical parameters of experimental animals, open wounds close significantly faster and, unlike control wounds, complete reepithelialization and scarring can be attained 14 days after surgery. Because of its hydration abilities, rapid adaptation to the wound bed and the early accelerator effect of wound closure, the CS/ChS aerogels appear to be functional inducers of the healing. Previous information show that CS/ChS aerogels improve wound bed quality, increase granulation tissue and have pain suppressive effect. CS/ChS aerogels are useful as safe, inexpensive and easy to handle materials for topical applications, such as skin chronic wounds. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Methacrylate monolithic columns functionalized with epinephrine for capillary electrochromatography applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrasco-Correa, Enrique Javier; Ramis-Ramos, Guillermo; Herrero-Martínez, José Manuel

    2013-07-12

    Epinephrine-bonded polymeric monoliths for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) were developed by nucleophilic substitution reaction of epoxide groups of poly(glycidyl-methacrylate-co-ethylenedimethacrylate) (poly(GMA-co-EDMA)) monoliths using epinephrine as nucleophilic reagent. The ring opening reaction under dynamic conditions was optimized. Successful chemical modification of the monolith surface was ascertained by in situ Raman spectroscopy characterization. In addition, the amount of epinephrine groups that was bound to the monolith surface was evaluated by oxidation of the catechol groups with Ce(IV), followed by spectrophotometric measurement of unreacted Ce(IV). About 9% of all theoretical epoxide groups of the parent monolith were bonded to epinephrine. The chromatographic behavior of the epinephrine-bonded monolith in CEC conditions was assessed with test mixtures of alkyl benzenes, aniline derivatives and substituted phenols. In comparison to the poly(GMA-co-EDMA) monoliths, the epinephrine-bonded monoliths exhibited a much higher retention and slight differences in selectivity. The epinephrine-bonded monolith was further modified by oxidation with a Ce(IV) solution and compared with the epinephrine-bonded monoliths. The resulting monolithic stationary phases were evaluated in terms of reproducibility, giving RSD values below 9% in the parameters investigated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Mechanically stable, hierarchically porous Cu3(btc)2 (HKUST-1) monoliths via direct conversion of copper(II) hydroxide-based monoliths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moitra, Nirmalya; Fukumoto, Shotaro; Reboul, Julien; Sumida, Kenji; Zhu, Yang; Nakanishi, Kazuki; Furukawa, Shuhei; Kitagawa, Susumu; Kanamori, Kazuyoshi

    2015-02-28

    The synthesis of highly crystalline macro-meso-microporous monolithic Cu3(btc)2 (HKUST-1; btc(3-) = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) is demonstrated by direct conversion of Cu(OH)2-based monoliths while preserving the characteristic macroporous structure. The high mechanical strength of the monoliths is promising for possible applications to continuous flow reactors.

  4. Nitrogen and Fluorine-Codoped Carbon Nanowire Aerogels as Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fu, Shaofang [School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA; Zhu, Chengzhou [School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA; Song, Junhua [School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA; Engelhard, Mark H. [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99352 USA; Xiao, Biwei [Energy and Environmental Directory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99352 USA; Du, Dan [School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA; Lin, Yuehe [School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA

    2017-07-11

    The development of active, durable, and low-cost catalysts to replace noble metal-based materials is highly desirable to promote the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells. Herein, nitrogen and fluorine-codoped three-dimensional carbon nanowire aerogels, composed of interconnected carbon nanowires, were synthesized for the first time by a hydrothermal carbonization process. Owing to their porous nanostructures and heteroatom-doping, the as-prepared carbon nanowire aerogels, with optimized composition, present excellent electrocatalytic activity that is comparable to commercial Pt/C. Remarkably, the aerogels also exhibit superior stability and methanol tolerance. This synthesis procedure paves a new way to design novel heteroatomdoped catalysts.

  5. Synthesis of Porous Carbon Monoliths Using Hard Templates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klepel, Olaf; Danneberg, Nina; Dräger, Matti; Erlitz, Marcel; Taubert, Michael

    2016-03-21

    The preparation of porous carbon monoliths with a defined shape via template-assisted routes is reported. Monoliths made from porous concrete and zeolite were each used as the template. The porous concrete-derived carbon monoliths exhibited high gravimetric specific surface areas up to 2000 m²·g -1 . The pore system comprised macro-, meso-, and micropores. These pores were hierarchically arranged. The pore system was created by the complex interplay of the actions of both the template and the activating agent as well. On the other hand, zeolite-made template shapes allowed for the preparation of microporous carbon monoliths with a high volumetric specific surface area. This feature could be beneficial if carbon monoliths must be integrated into technical systems under space-limited conditions.

  6. Random textures of the order parameter of superfluid sup 3 He-B in aerogel

    CERN Document Server

    Fomin, Yu A

    2002-01-01

    The scheme for describing the properties of the superfluid sup 3 He in the aerogel is proposed in accordance with the Ginzburg and Landau theory. The aerogel effect on the order parameter is described by the random tensor field. This field exerts desorientation effect on the order parameter in the sup 3 He A-phase, but it does not influence the order parameter orientation in the B-phase, if there is no magnetic field. The change in the order parameter texture, originating in the B-phase in the aerogel in the magnetic field, is considered. Fluctuations of the sup 3 He-B anisotropy axis direction are correlated on the length, inversely proportional to the field intensity and having the macroscopic scale

  7. Carbide-derived carbon aerogels with tunable pore structure as versatile electrode material in high power supercapacitors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oschatz, M.; Boukhalfa, S.; Nickel, W.; Hofmann, J.P.; Fischer, C.; Yushin, G.; Kaskel, S.

    2017-01-01

    Carbide-derived carbon (CDC) aerogels with hierarchical porosity are prepared from cross-linked polycarbosilane aerogels by pyrolysis and chlorine treatment at 700 and 1000 °C. The low-temperature sample is further activated with carbon dioxide to introduce additional micropores. The influence of

  8. Immobilization of Styrene-acrylamide Co-polymer on Either Silica Particles or Inner Surface of Silica Capillary for the Separation of D-Glucose Anomers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali, Faiz; Kim, Yune Sung; Cheong, Won Jo

    2014-01-01

    Styrene-acrylamide co-polymer was immobilized on porous partially sub-2 μm silica monolith particles and inner surface of fused silica capillary (50 μm ID and 28 cm length) to result in μLC and CEC stationary phases, respectively, for separation of anomeric D-glucose derivatives. Reversed addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization was incorporated to induce surface polymerization. Acrylamide was employed to incorporate amide-functionality in the stationary phase. The resultant μLC and CEC stationary phases were able to separate isomers of D-glucose derivatives with high selectivity and efficiency. The mobile phase of 75/ 25 (v/v) acetonitrile (ACN)/water with 0.1% TFA, was used for HPLC with a packed column (1 mm ID, 300 mm length). The effects of pH and ACN composition on anomeric separation of D-glucose in CEC have been examined. A mobile phase of 85/15 (v/v) ACN/30 mM sodium acetate pH 6.7 was found the optimized mobile phase for CEC. The CEC stationary phase also gave good separation of other saccharides such as maltotriose and Dextran 1500 (MW∼1500) with good separation efficiency (number of theoretical plates ∼300,000/m)

  9. Immobilization of Styrene-acrylamide Co-polymer on Either Silica Particles or Inner Surface of Silica Capillary for the Separation of D-Glucose Anomers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ali, Faiz; Kim, Yune Sung; Cheong, Won Jo [Inha Univ., Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-02-15

    Styrene-acrylamide co-polymer was immobilized on porous partially sub-2 μm silica monolith particles and inner surface of fused silica capillary (50 μm ID and 28 cm length) to result in μLC and CEC stationary phases, respectively, for separation of anomeric D-glucose derivatives. Reversed addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization was incorporated to induce surface polymerization. Acrylamide was employed to incorporate amide-functionality in the stationary phase. The resultant μLC and CEC stationary phases were able to separate isomers of D-glucose derivatives with high selectivity and efficiency. The mobile phase of 75/ 25 (v/v) acetonitrile (ACN)/water with 0.1% TFA, was used for HPLC with a packed column (1 mm ID, 300 mm length). The effects of pH and ACN composition on anomeric separation of D-glucose in CEC have been examined. A mobile phase of 85/15 (v/v) ACN/30 mM sodium acetate pH 6.7 was found the optimized mobile phase for CEC. The CEC stationary phase also gave good separation of other saccharides such as maltotriose and Dextran 1500 (MW∼1500) with good separation efficiency (number of theoretical plates ∼300,000/m)

  10. Morphological and textural characterization of functionalized particulate silica xerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Miranda, Lazaro A.; Mohallem, Nelcy D. S.; de Magalhães, Welington F.

    2006-03-01

    The functionalization of xerogels for use in chromatography and catalysis was carried out by solubilization of amorphous silica using a soxhlet extractor. Xerogels were prepared by sol-gel method using tetraethoxysilane, TEOS, ethanol, and water in a 1/3/10 molar ratio with HCl and HF as catalysts. The samples were prepared in monolithic form and dried at 70 °C and 550 °C for 1 h each. After functionalization, changes in textural and morphological characteristics of xerogels were investigated by means of nitrogen gas adsorption, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As the analysis methods are based on different physical principles, the results are complementary, leading to a good knowledge of the texture of the samples studied.

  11. Morphological and textural characterization of functionalized particulate silica xerogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miranda, Lazaro A. de; Mohallem, Nelcy D.S.; Magalhaes, Welington F. de

    2006-01-01

    The functionalization of xerogels for use in chromatography and catalysis was carried out by solubilization of amorphous silica using a soxhlet extractor. Xerogels were prepared by sol-gel method using tetraethoxysilane, TEOS, ethanol, and water in a 1/3/10 molar ratio with HCl and HF as catalysts. The samples were prepared in monolithic form and dried at 70 deg. C and 550 deg. C for 1 h each. After functionalization, changes in textural and morphological characteristics of xerogels were investigated by means of nitrogen gas adsorption, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As the analysis methods are based on different physical principles, the results are complementary, leading to a good knowledge of the texture of the samples studied

  12. Wet-Spun Superelastic Graphene Aerogel Millispheres with Group Effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiaoli; Yao, Weiquan; Gao, Weiwei; Chen, Hao; Gao, Chao

    2017-09-01

    Graphene aerogel has attracted great attention due to its unique properties, such as ultralow density, superelasticity, and high specific surface area. It shows huge potential in energy devices, high-performance pressure sensors, contaminates adsorbents, and electromagnetic wave absorbing materials. However, there still remain some challenges to further promote the development and real application of graphene aerogel including cost-effective scalable fabrication and miniaturization with group effect. This study shows millimeter-scale superelastic graphene aerogel spheres (GSs) with group effect and multifunctionality. The GSs are continuously fabricated on a large scale by wet spinning of graphene oxide liquid crystals followed by facile drying and thermal annealing. Such GS has an unusual core-shell structure with excellent elasticity and specific strength. Significantly, both horizontally and vertically grouped spheres exhibit superelasticity comparable to individual spheres, enabling it to fully recover at 95% strain, and even after 1000 compressive cycles at 70% strain, paving the way to wide applications such as pressure-elastic and adsorbing materials. The GS shows a press-fly behavior with an extremely high jump velocity up to 1.2 m s -1 . For the first time, both free and oil-adsorbed GSs are remotely manipulated on water by electrostatic charge due to their ultralow density and hydrophobic properties. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  13. Highly Insulating Windows with a U-value less than 0.6 W/m2K

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wendell Rhine; Ying Tang; Wenting Dong; Roxana Trifu; Reduane Begag

    2008-11-30

    satisfying constraints such as durability, cost, user acceptance, size limits, and environmental safety concerns. The energy efficient daylighting window will consist of a translucent and resilient aerogel panel sandwiched between glass panes in double glazed windows. Compared to the best windows available today, the double glazed translucent windows with 1/2-inch aerogel inserts will have a U-value of 1.2 W/m{sup 2} K (0.211 BTU/ft{sup 2} h F) without any coating or low conductivity fill gases. These windows will be more effective than the windows with an Energy Star rating of U-2 W/m{sup 2} K and could be made even more efficient by using low-e coated glass glazings and inert gas fills. This report summarizes the work accomplished on Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-03NT41950. During this project, Aspen Aerogels made transparent and translucent aerogels from TMOS and TEOS. We characterized the transparency of the aerogels, reinforced the transparent aerogels with fibers and prepared large translucent aerogel panels and blankets. We also conducted an initial market study for energy efficient translucent windows. A lab-scale process was developed that could be scaled-up to manufacture blankets of these translucent aerogels. The large blankets prepared were used to fabricate prototype translucent windows and skylights. The primary goal of this project was to develop transparent, resilient, hydrophobic silica aerogels that have low thermal conductivities (R-10/inch) to be used to produce aerogel insulated double-glazing windows with a U value of 0.6 W/m{sup 2}K. To meet this objective we developed a process and equipment to produce blankets of translucent, hydrophobic aerogel. We focused on silica, organically-modified silica aerogels (Ormosils), and fiber reinforced silica aerogels due to the appreciable expertise in silica sol-gel processing available with the personnel at Aspen Aerogels, and also due to the quantity of knowledge available in the scientific literature. The

  14. Cellulose aerogels functionalized with polypyrrole and silver nanoparticles: In-situ synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Caichao; Li, Jian

    2016-08-01

    Green porous and lightweight cellulose aerogels have been considered as promising candidates to substitute some petrochemical host materials to support various nanomaterials. In this work, waste wheat straw was collected as feedstock to fabricate cellulose hydrogels, and a green inexpensive NaOH/polyethylene glycol solution was used as cellulose solvent. Prior to freeze-drying treatment, the cellulose hydrogels were integrated with polypyrrole and silver nanoparticles by easily-operated in-situ oxidative polymerization of pyrrole using silver ions as oxidizing agent. The tri-component hybrid aerogels were characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, selected area electron diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of the hybrid aerogels against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative), Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Listeria monocytogenes (intracellular bacteria) was qualitatively and quantitatively investigated by parallel streak method and determination of minimal inhibitory concentration, respectively. This work provides an example of combining cellulose aerogels with nanomaterials, and helps to develop novel forms of cellulose-based functional materials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Evaluation of new 5 inch photomultiplier for use in threshold Cherenkov detectors with aerogel radiator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wojtsekhowski, B.; Zorn, C.; Flyckt, S.O.

    2000-01-01

    A cost effective alternative to UV-sensitive 5 inch PMTs often used with threshold Aerogel Cherenkov detectors has been developed and tested. The photomultiplier -XP4572-is a variation of the Photonis XP4512 glass window tube with improved electron collection efficiency. Fast timing and high gain were only moderately compromised. The effective quantum efficiency has been measured as twice that of a Burle 8854 Quantacon when exposed to a Cherenkov spectrum generated by Ru-106 electrons (les;3.54 MeV) through 1 cm of high index, high transparency Matsushita Electric aerogel (n=1.05). This new phototube is being installed in an aerogel-based Cherenkov detector for Hall A at Jefferson Lab

  16. Electrochemical investigation of functionalized graphene aerogel with different amount of p-phenylenediamine as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gholipour-Ranjbar, Habib; Ganjali, Mohammad Reza; Norouzi, Parviz; Naderi, Hamid Reza

    2016-07-01

    Graphene aerogel has attracted great attention as a new and efficient electrode material for supercapacitors. It can be expected that functionalization of graphene aerogels can further improve their capability. In this study, graphene aerogel functionalized with different amount of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and the effect of PPD amount on the supercapacitive performance of functionalized graphene aerogel (FGA) was investigated. Structural characterizations showed that PPD molecules initiated graphene aerogel sheets assembly into three-dimensional structures and also increasing PPD amount led to increase in surface area. Electrochemical investigations proved that the FGA with larger pore size showed enhanced supercapacitive performance compared with the FGA with smaller pore size. The optimized FGA-based electrode exhibited outstanding specific capacitance (SC) of 385 F g-1 at a discharge current density of 1 A g-1, good rate capability (215 F g-1 at 20 A g-1), and exceptionally high cyclic stability by displaying 25% increase in SC after 5000 cycle.

  17. Correlating Lithium Hydroxyl Accumulation with Capacity Retention in V2O5 Aerogel Cathodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wangoh, Linda W; Huang, Yiqing; Jezorek, Ryan L; Kehoe, Aoife B; Watson, Graeme W; Omenya, Fredrick; Quackenbush, Nicholas F; Chernova, Natasha A; Whittingham, M Stanley; Piper, Louis F J

    2016-05-11

    V2O5 aerogels are capable of reversibly intercalating more than 5 Li(+)/V2O5 but suffer from lifetime issues due to their poor capacity retention upon cycling. We employed a range of material characterization and electrochemical techniques along with atomic pair distribution function, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory to determine the origin of the capacity fading in V2O5 aerogel cathodes. In addition to the expected vanadium redox due to intercalation, we observed LiOH species that formed upon discharge and were only partially removed after charging, resulting in an accumulation of electrochemically inactive LiOH over each cycle. Our results indicate that the tightly bound water that is necessary for maintaining the aerogel structure is also inherently responsible for the capacity fade.

  18. KFeSbTe3: A quaternary chalcogenide aerogel for preferential adsorption of polarizable hydrocarbons and gases

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Ejaz; Rothenberger, Alexander

    2015-01-01

    The first telluride-based quaternary aerogel KFeSbTe3 is synthesized by a sol-gel metathesis reaction between Fe(OAc)2 and K3SbTe3 in dimethyl formamide. The aerogel has an exceptionally large surface area 652 m2 g-1 which is amongst the highest

  19. Thermal Protection Performance of Carbon Aerogels Filled with Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate as a Phase Change Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Kazemi

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Carbon aerogels are comprised of a class of low density open-cell foams with large void space, nanometer pore size and composed of sparsely semi-colloidal nanometer sized particles forming an open porous structure. Phase change materials are those with high heat of fusion that could absorb and release a large amount of energy at the time of phase transition. These materials are mostly used as thermal energy storage materials but in addition they could serve as an obstacle for passage of heat during phase changes and this has led to their use in thermal protection systems. In this study, the effect of magnesium chloride hexahydrate, as a phase change material (melting point 115°C, on thermal properties of carbon aerogels is investigated. Thermal performance tests are designed and used for comparing the temperature-time behavior of the samples. DSC is applied to obtain the latent heat of melting of the phase change materials and the SEM tests are used to analyze the microstructure and morphology of carbon aerogels. The results show that the low percentage of phase change materials in carbon aerogels does not have any significant positive effect on carbon aerogels thermal properties. However, these properties are improved by increasing the percentage of phase change materials. With high percentage of phase change materials, a sample surface at 300°C would display an opposite surface with a significant drop in temperature increases, while at 115-200°C, with carbon aerogels, having no phase change materials, there is a severe reduction in the rate of temperature increase of the sample.

  20. Monolith electroplating process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarrwal, Rajev R.

    2001-01-01

    An electroplating process for preparing a monolith metal layer over a polycrystalline base metal and the plated monolith product. A monolith layer has a variable thickness of one crystal. The process is typically carried in molten salts electrolytes, such as the halide salts under an inert atmosphere at an elevated temperature, and over deposition time periods and film thickness sufficient to sinter and recrystallize completely the nucleating metal particles into one single crystal or crystals having very large grains. In the process, a close-packed film of submicron particle (20) is formed on a suitable substrate at an elevated temperature. The temperature has the significance of annealing particles as they are formed, and substrates on which the particles can populate are desirable. As the packed bed thickens, the submicron particles develop necks (21) and as they merge into each other shrinkage (22) occurs. Then as micropores also close (23) by surface tension, metal density is reached and the film consists of unstable metal grain (24) that at high enough temperature recrystallize (25) and recrystallized grains grow into an annealed single crystal over the electroplating time span. While cadmium was used in the experimental work, other soft metals may be used.

  1. A multi-wavelength, high-contrast contact radiography system for the study of low-density aerogel foams

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Opachich, Y. P., E-mail: opachiyp@nv.doe.gov; Koch, J. A.; Haugh, M. J.; Romano, E.; Lee, J. J.; Huffman, E.; Weber, F. A. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Livermore, California 94550 (United States); Bowers, J. W. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Livermore, California 94550 (United States); University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Benedetti, L. R.; Wilson, M.; Prisbrey, S. T.; Wehrenberg, C. E.; Baumann, T. F.; Lenhardt, J. M.; Cook, A.; Arsenlis, A.; Park, H.-S.; Remington, B. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)

    2016-07-15

    A multi-wavelength, high contrast contact radiography system has been developed to characterize density variations in ultra-low density aerogel foams. These foams are used to generate a ramped pressure drive in materials strength experiments at the National Ignition Facility and require precision characterization in order to reduce errors in measurements. The system was used to characterize density variations in carbon and silicon based aerogels to ∼10.3% accuracy with ∼30 μm spatial resolution. The system description, performance, and measurement results collected using a 17.8 mg/cc carbon based JX–6 (C{sub 20}H{sub 30}) aerogel are discussed in this manuscript.

  2. Synthesis of well-dispersed magnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in cellulose aerogels via a facile oxidative co-precipitation method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Caichao; Li, Jian

    2015-12-10

    With the increasing emphasis on green chemistry, it is becoming more important to develop environmentally friendly matrix materials for the synthesis of nanocomposites. Cellulose aerogels with hierarchical micro/nano-scale three-dimensional network beneficial to control and guide the growth of nanoparticles, are suitable as a class of ideal green nanoparticles hosts to fabricate multifunctional nanocomposites. Herein, a facile oxidative co-precipitation method was carried out to disperse CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in the cellulose aerogels matrixes, and the cellulose aerogels were prepared from the native wheat straw based on a green NaOH/polyethylene glycol solution. The mean diameter of the well-dispersed CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in the hybrid aerogels is 98.5 nm. Besides, the hybrid aerogels exhibit strong magnetic responsiveness, which could be flexibly actuated by a small magnet. And this feature also makes this class of magnetic aerogels possibly useful as recyclable adsorbents and some magnetic devices. Meanwhile, the mild green preparation method could also be extended to fabricate other miscellaneous cellulose-based nanocomposites. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Translucency and Strength of High-Translucency Monolithic Zirconium-Oxide Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-05-12

    Capt Todd D. Church APPROVED: Translucency and Strength of High-Translucency Monolithic Zirconium -Oxide Materials C~t) Kraig/[ Vandewalle Date...copyrighted material in the thesis/dissertation manuscript entitled: "Translucency arid Strength of High-Translucency Monolithic Zirconium -Oxide...Translucency Monolithic Zirconium -Oxide Materials Abstract Dental materials manufacturers have developed more translucent monolithic zirconium oxide

  4. Lightweight, Mesoporous, and Highly Absorptive All-Nanofiber Aerogel for Efficient Solar Steam Generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Feng; Liu, He; Li, Yiju; Kuang, Yudi; Xu, Xu; Chen, Chaoji; Huang, Hao; Jia, Chao; Zhao, Xinpeng; Hitz, Emily; Zhou, Yubing; Yang, Ronggui; Cui, Lifeng; Hu, Liangbing

    2018-01-10

    The global fresh water shortage has driven enormous endeavors in seawater desalination and wastewater purification; among these, solar steam generation is effective in extracting fresh water by efficient utilization of naturally abundant solar energy. For solar steam generation, the primary focus is to design new materials that are biodegradable, sustainable, of low cost, and have high solar steam generation efficiency. Here, we designed a bilayer aerogel structure employing naturally abundant cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) as basic building blocks to achieve sustainability and biodegradability as well as employing a carbon nanotube (CNT) layer for efficient solar utilization with over 97.5% of light absorbance from 300 to 1200 nm wavelength. The ultralow density (0.0096 g/cm 3 ) of the aerogel ensures that minimal material is required, reducing the production cost while at the same time satisfying the water transport and thermal-insulation requirements due to its highly porous structure (99.4% porosity). Owing to its rationally designed structure and thermal-regulation performance, the bilayer CNF-CNT aerogel exhibits a high solar-energy conversion efficiency of 76.3% and 1.11 kg m -2 h -1 at 1 kW m -2 (1 Sun) solar irradiation, comparable or even higher than most of the reported solar steam generation devices. Therefore, the all-nanofiber aerogel presents a new route for designing biodegradable, sustainable, and scalable solar steam generation devices with superb performance.

  5. Processing and characterization of multi-cellular monolithic bioceramics for bone regenerative scaffolds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ari-Wahjoedi, Bambang; Ginta, Turnad Lenggo; Parman, Setyamartana; Abustaman, Mohd Zikri Ahmad

    2014-10-01

    Multicellular monolithic ceramic body is a ceramic material which has many gas or liquid passages partitioned by thin walls throughout the bulk material. There are many currently known advanced industrial applications of multicellular ceramics structures i.e. as supports for various catalysts, electrode support structure for solid oxide fuel cells, refractories, electric/electronic materials, aerospace vehicle re-entry heat shields and biomaterials for dental as well as orthopaedic implants by naming only a few. Multicellular ceramic bodies are usually made of ceramic phases such as mullite, cordierite, aluminum titanate or pure oxides such as silica, zirconia and alumina. What make alumina ceramics is excellent for the above functions are the intrinsic properties of alumina which are hard, wear resistant, excellent dielectric properties, resists strong acid and alkali attacks at elevated temperatures, good thermal conductivities, high strength and stiffness as well as biocompatible. In this work the processing technology leading to truly multicellular monolithic alumina ceramic bodies and their characterization are reported. Ceramic slip with 66 wt.% solid loading was found to be optimum as impregnant to the polyurethane foam template. Mullitic ceramic composite of alumina-sodium alumino disilicate-Leucite-like phases with bulk and true densities of 0.852 and 1.241 g cm-3 respectively, pore linear density of ±35 cm-1, linear and bulk volume shrinkages of 7-16% and 32 vol.% were obtained. The compressive strength and elastic modulus of the bioceramics are ≈0.5-1.0 and ≈20 MPa respectively.

  6. Ni(OH)2 Aerogels Incorporated with Polypyrrole as Electrodes for Supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scarabelot, Letícia T.; Muller, Daliana; de Souza, Luciana V.; Hotza, Dachamir; Rambo, Carlos R.

    2017-08-01

    This work reports the synthesis of Ni(OH)2 aerogels incorporated in situ with polypyrrole (PPy) for application as electrodes in high-capacity energy storage devices. Ni(OH)2 gels were prepared by the sol-gel method from NiCl2 as precursor and propylene oxide as gelling agent in ethanol. Pyrrole monomer was added prior to gelling of the sol and in situ polymerized using ammonium persulfate as oxidant agent. After solvent exchanges from ethanol to acetone, the gels were dried in a CO2 supercritical point drier. Powdered aerogels were deposited onto both sides of a poly(vinyl alcohol)/H3PO4 film (electrolyte/separator) and the contacts were closed with copper foils, resulting in a complete device. Through cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge curves, the performance of the supercapacitors was evaluated by the specific capacitance, power and energy densities and series resistance. The specific capacitance was increased by 43% with the incorporation of 0.2 mol/L PPy (276 F/g) and the series resistance obtained decreased by 79% (46.5 Ω/cm2), which reflects the enhanced performance and electrochemical properties of Ni(OH)2 aerogel- based devices incorporated with PPy.

  7. Titania aerogel prepared by low temperature supercritical drying

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Štengl, Václav; Bakardjieva, Snejana; Šubrt, Jan; Szatmáry, Lórant

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 91, 1-3 (2006), s. 1-6 ISSN 1387-1811 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0577 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40320502 Keywords : aerogels * titanium oxide * supercritical drying Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry Impact factor: 2.796, year: 2006

  8. Multifunctional Aerogel Thermal Protection Systems for Hypersonic Vehicles, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The overall objective of the Phase II project is to develop lightweight reinforced aerogel materials for use as the core structural insulation material in...

  9. Flexible and porous cellulose aerogels/zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) hybrids for adsorption removal of Cr(IV) from water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bo, Shaoguo; Ren, Wenjing; Lei, Chao; Xie, Yuanbo; Cai, Yurong; Wang, Shunli; Gao, Junkuo; Ni, Qingqing; Yao, Juming

    2018-06-01

    The low cost of adsorption treatment of heavy metal ions in water has been extensively studied. In this paper, we have demonstrated a facile method of combining two emerging materials cellulose aerogels (CA) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into one highly functional aerogel to adsorption removal of heavy metal ions from water, by entrapping MOF particles into a flexible and porous CA. The resultant hybrid cellulose aerogels had a highly porous structure with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) loadings can reach 30 wt%. The hybrid cellulose aerogels (named as ZIF-8@CA) show good adsorption capacity for Cr(Ⅵ). The adsorption process of ZIF-8@CA is better described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm, with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 41.8 mg g-1 for Cr(Ⅵ), whose adsorption capacity has greatly improved when compared with a single CA or ZIF-8. Thus, such a flexible and durable hybrid cellulose aerogel is a very prospective material for metal ions cleanup and industrial wastewater purification.

  10. Preparation of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane based imprinted monolith.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Fang; Chen, Xiu-Xiu; Huang, Yan-Ping; Liu, Zhao-Sheng

    2015-12-18

    Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) was successfully applied, for the first time, to prepare imprinted monolithic column with high porosity and good permeability. The imprinted monolithic column was synthesized with a mixture of PSS-(1-Propylmethacrylate)-heptaisobutyl substituted (MA 0702), naproxon (template), 4-vinylpyridine, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, in ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF4). The influence of synthesis parameters on the retention factor and imprinting effect, including the amount of MA 0702, the ratio of template to monomer, and the ratio of monomer to crosslinker, was investigated. The greatest imprinting factor on the imprinted monolithic column prepared with MA 0702 was 22, about 10 times higher than that prepared in absence of POSS. The comparisons between MIP monoliths synthesized with POSS and without POSS were made in terms of permeability, column efficiency, surface morphology and pore size distribution. In addition, thermodynamic and Van Deemter analysis were used to evaluate the POSS-based MIP monolith. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Strength-controllable graphene oxide amphiprotic aerogels as highly efficient carrier for anionic and cationic azo molecules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Jiaqing; Jiao, Chenlu; Xu, Sijun; Tao, Jin; Zhang, Desuo; Lin, Hong; Chen, Yuyue

    2015-06-01

    Ice-bath self-assembly was employed to fabricate the GO/AP-MCC/CS aerogel based on natural materials. The components are amphiprotic microcrystalline cellulose (AP-MCC), chitosan (CS), and graphene oxide (GO), which act as the main framework, auxiliary framework and adhesive, respectively. The results of characterization determines the components form the GO/AP-MCC/CS aerogel according to chemical interactions. The mechanical properties depend largely on the mass ratio of AP-MCC/CS, which can be regulated by controlling the contents of AP-MCC and CS. The resultant GO/AP-MCC/CS aerogel was observed possessing three-dimensional (3D) interpenetrating porous networks with wrinkled structure on the inner wall, which provide a good encapsulation capacity for the guest molecules. As expected, owing to the amphiprotic properties and large specific surface area, GO/AP-MCC/CS aerogel exhibits high-efficiency load capacity for both anionic (CR) and cationic azo molecules (MB), which can reach up to about 132.2 mg/g for CR and 123.2 mg/g for MB, respectively.

  12. Super-hydrophilicity of hydroxy modified poly(m-phenylenediamine) aerogel for separation of oil/water and biocompatibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Gang; Liu, Zhiduo; Zhang, Nan; Li, Jiurong; Xu, Anli; Xiang, Pengcheng; Hu, Xurui; Guo, Qinglei; Chen, Da

    2018-04-01

    We demonstrate the ultra-light weight and super-hydrophilic hydroxyl modified poly (m-phenylenediamine) (Hy-PmPD) aerogel by utilizing simple oxygen plasma treatment. The average pore size and specific surface area are obtained as 5.21 nm and 671 m2 g‑1, respectively. Due to the large amount of oxygen-containing groups (e.g., C–OH and N–OH), the contact angle of Hy-PmPD for water is about 7.2°, which indicates the super-hydrophilic ability of Hy-PmPD. The large surface area and super-hydrophilic nature of ultra- light weight Hy-PmPD aerogel conclusively certify that high absorption capacities and ultrafast absorption rate for water. As a result, the Hy-PmPD aerogel enables to separate crude oil and water. Additionally, the Hy-PmPD aerogel indicates good biocompatibility that can be implanted as the bio-platform for monitoring the cell culture behavior. This work may provide a facile and effective strategy for the applications in the absorption or removal of organics, particularly in environmental protection, pollution control, as well as noninvasive to the microflora.

  13. Summary Report for the Development of Materials for Volatile Radionuclides

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strachan, Denis M.; Chun, Jaehun; Henager, Charles H.; Matyas, Josef; Riley, Brian J.; Ryan, Joseph V.; Thallapally, Praveen K.

    2010-11-22

    The materials development summarized here is in support of the Waste Forms campaign, Volatile Radionuclide task. Specifically, materials are being developed for the removal and immobilization of iodine and krypton, specifically 129I and 85Kr. During FY 2010, aerogel materials were investigated for removal and immobilization of 129I. Two aerogel formulations were investigated, one based on silica aerogels and the second on chalcogenides. For 85Kr, metal organic framework (MOF) structures were investigated.

  14. Summary Report for the Development of Materials for Volatile Radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strachan, Denis M.; Chun, Jaehun; Henager, Charles H.; Matyas, Josef; Riley, Brian J.; Ryan, Joseph V.; Thallapally, Praveen K.

    2010-01-01

    The materials development summarized here is in support of the Waste Forms campaign, Volatile Radionuclide task. Specifically, materials are being developed for the removal and immobilization of iodine and krypton, specifically 129I and 85Kr. During FY 2010, aerogel materials were investigated for removal and immobilization of 129I. Two aerogel formulations were investigated, one based on silica aerogels and the second on chalcogenides. For 85Kr, metal organic framework (MOF) structures were investigated.

  15. Thiourea-treated graphene aerogel as a highly selective gas sensor for sensing of trace level of ammonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alizadeh, Taher, E-mail: talizadeh@ut.ac.ir [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University College of Science, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6455, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ahmadian, Farzaneh [Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Daneshgah Street, P.B179, 56199-11367 Ardabil (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    As a result of this study, a new and simple method was proposed for the fabrication of an ultra sensitive, robust and reversible ammonia gas sensor. The sensing mechanism was based upon the change in electrical resistance of a graphene aerogel as a result of sensor exposing to ammonia. Three-dimensional graphene hydrogel was first synthesized via hydrothermal method in the absence or presence of various amounts of thiourea. The obtained material was heated to obtain aerogel and then it was used as ammonia gas sensor. The materials obtained were characterized using different techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thiourea-treated graphene aerogel was more porous (389 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}) and thermally unstable and exhibited higher sensitivity, shorter response time and better selectivity toward ammonia gas, compared to the aerogel produced in the absence of thiourea. Thiourea amount, involved in the hydrogel synthesis step, was found to be highly effective factor in the sensing properties of finally obtained aerogel. The sensor response time to ammonia was short (100 s) and completely reversible (recovery time of about 500 s) in ambient temperature. The sensor response to ammonia was linear between 0.02 and 85 ppm and its detection limit was found to be 10 ppb (3S/N). - Highlights: • An ammonia gas sensor with ppb level determination capability was proposed. • A new procedure has been introduced for gas sensor fabrication by graphene hydrogel. • Thiourea-treated graphene aerogel was used as excellent ammonia gas sensor.

  16. Poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose nanofibril hybrid aerogels with an aligned microtubular porous structure and their composites with polydimethylsiloxane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tianliang Zhai; Qifeng Zheng; Zhiyong Cai; Lih-Sheng Turng; Hesheng Xia; Shaoqin Gong

    2015-01-01

    Superhydrophobic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/ cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogels with a unidirectionally aligned microtubular porous structure were prepared using a unidirectional freeze-drying process, followed by the thermal chemical vapor deposition of methyltrichlorosilane. The silanized aerogels were characterized using various techniques including scanning...

  17. Polyaniline-Coated Activated Carbon Aerogel/Sulfur Composite for High-performance Lithium-Sulfur Battery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Zhiwei; Jiang, Jinglin; Liu, Shaohong; Chen, Luyi; Liu, Ruliang; Zheng, Bingna; Fu, Ruowen; Wu, Dingcai

    2017-12-01

    An activated carbon aerogel (ACA-500) with high surface area (1765 m2 g-1), pore volume (2.04 cm3 g-1), and hierarchical porous nanonetwork structure is prepared through direct activation of organic aerogel (RC-500) with a low potassium hydroxide ratio (1:1). Based on this substrate, a polyaniline (PANi)-coated activated carbon aerogel/sulfur (ACA-500-S@PANi) composite is prepared via a simple two-step procedure, including melt-infiltration of sublimed sulfur into ACA-500, followed by an in situ polymerization of aniline on the surface of ACA-500-S composite. The obtained ACA-500-S@PANi composite delivers a high reversible capacity up to 1208 mAh g-1 at 0.2C and maintains 542 mAh g-1 even at a high rate (3C). Furthermore, this composite exhibits a discharge capacity of 926 mAh g-1 at the initial cycle and 615 mAh g-1 after 700 cycles at 1C rate, revealing an extremely low capacity decay rate (0.48‰ per cycle). The excellent electrochemical performance of ACA-500-S@PANi can be attributed to the synergistic effect of hierarchical porous nanonetwork structure and PANi coating. Activated carbon aerogels with high surface area and unique three-dimensional (3D) interconnected hierarchical porous structure offer an efficient conductive network for sulfur, and a highly conductive PANi-coating layer further enhances conductivity of the electrode and prevents the dissolution of polysulfide species.

  18. Sprayable Aerogel Bead Compositions With High Shear Flow Resistance and High Thermal Insulation Value

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ou, Danny; Trifu, Roxana; Caggiano, Gregory

    2013-01-01

    A sprayable aerogel insulation has been developed that has good mechanical integrity and lower thermal conductivity than incumbent polyurethane spray-on foam insulation, at similar or lower areal densities, to prevent insulation cracking and debonding in an effort to eliminate the generation of inflight debris. This new, lightweight aerogel under bead form can be used as insulation in various thermal management systems that require low mass and volume, such as cryogenic storage tanks, pipelines, space platforms, and launch vehicles.

  19. Structure Manipulation of Carbon Aerogels by Managing Solution Concentration of Precursor and Its Application for CO2 Capture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pingping He

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available A series of carbon aerogels were synthesized by polycondensation of resorcinol and formaldehyde, and their structure was adjusted by managing solution concentration of precursors. Carbon aerogels were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD, Raman, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, N2 adsorption/desorption and scanning electron microscope (SEM technologies. It was found that the pore structure and morphology of carbon aerogels can be efficiently manipulated by managing solution concentration. The relative micropore volume of carbon aerogels, defined by Vmicro/Vtol, first increased and then decreased with the increase of solution concentration, leading to the same trend of CO2 adsorption capacity. Specifically, the CA-45 (the solution concentration of precursors is 45 wt% sample had the highest CO2 adsorption capacity (83.71 cm3/g and the highest selectivity of CO2/N2 (53 at 1 bar and 0 °C.

  20. Defect-induced luminescence in sol-gel silica samples doped with Co(II) at different concentrations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jimenez-Sandoval, S. [Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Avanzados, Queretaro, Apdo. Postal 1-798, Queretaro, Qro. 76001 (Mexico); Estevez, M. [Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 1-1010, Queretaro, Qro. 76000 (Mexico); Pacheco, S. [Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Av. 100 metros (Mexico); Vargas, S. [Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 1-1010, Queretaro, Qro. 76000 (Mexico); Rodriguez, R. [Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 1-1010, Queretaro, Qro. 76000 (Mexico)], E-mail: rogelior@servidor.unam.mx

    2007-12-20

    The defect-induced luminescence properties of silica samples prepared by the sol-gel method and doped with Co(II) are reported. Silica monoliths doped with different concentrations of Co(II) were laser irradiated (He-Ne 632.8 nm) producing fluorescence. However, this fluorescence is exponentially reduced with the irradiation time, to practically disappear. The rate the fluorescence decays can be well modeled with a double exponential function of the irradiation time, containing two different relaxation times; a baseline is also required to take into account some residual fluorescence. The characteristic times involved in this luminescence quenching process are in the range of seconds. This luminescence suppression can be associated to the local heating produced by the laser irradiation when focused in a small area (2 {mu}m in diameter) on the sample. This heating process reduces physical (grain boundaries, surface states) and chemical (oxygen vacancies produced by the dopant) defects in the sample.

  1. Advanced Gasification Mercury/Trace Metal Control with Monolith Traps

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Musich, Mark; Swanson, Michael; Dunham, Grant; Stanislowski, Joshua

    2010-10-05

    Two Corning monoliths and a non-carbon-based material have been identified as potential additives for mercury capture in syngas at temperatures above 400°F and pressure of 600 psig. A new Corning monolith formulation, GR-F1-2189, described as an active sample appeared to be the best monolith tested to date. The Corning SR Liquid monolith concept continues to be a strong candidate for mercury capture. Both monolith types allowed mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m{sup 3} (~5 ppb), a current U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) goal for trace metal control. Preparation methods for formulating the SR Liquid monolith impacted the ability of the monolith to capture mercury. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)-prepared Noncarbon Sorbents 1 and 2 appeared to offer potential for sustained and significant reduction of mercury concentration in the simulated fuel gas. The Noncarbon Sorbent 1 allowed sustained mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m{sup 3} (~5 ppb). The non-carbon-based sorbent appeared to offer the potential for regeneration, that is, desorption of mercury by temperature swing (using nitrogen and steam at temperatures above where adsorption takes place). A Corning cordierite monolith treated with a Group IB metal offered limited potential as a mercury sorbent. However, a Corning carbon-based monolith containing prereduced metallic species similar to those found on the noncarbon sorbents did not exhibit significant or sustained mercury reduction. EERC sorbents prepared with Group IB and IIB selenide appeared to have some promise for mercury capture. Unfortunately, these sorbents also released Se, as was evidenced by the measurement of H2Se in the effluent gas. All sorbents tested with arsine or hydrogen selenide, including Corning monoliths and the Group IB and IIB metal-based materials, showed an ability to capture arsine or hydrogen selenide at 400°F and 600 psig. Based on current testing, the noncarbon metal-based sorbents appear to be the most

  2. ADVANCED GASIFICATION MERCURY/TRACE METAL CONTROL WITH MONOLITH TRAPS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mark A. Musich; Michael L. Swanson; Grant E. Dunham; Joshua J. Stanislowski

    2010-07-31

    Two Corning monoliths and a non-carbon-based material have been identified as potential additives for mercury capture in syngas at temperatures above 400°F and pressure of 600 psig. A new Corning monolith formulation, GR-F1-2189, described as an active sample appeared to be the best monolith tested to date. The Corning SR Liquid monolith concept continues to be a strong candidate for mercury capture. Both monolith types allowed mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m3 (~5 ppb), a current U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) goal for trace metal control. Preparation methods for formulating the SR Liquid monolith impacted the ability of the monolith to capture mercury. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)-prepared Noncarbon Sorbents 1 and 2 appeared to offer potential for sustained and significant reduction of mercury concentration in the simulated fuel gas. The Noncarbon Sorbent 1 allowed sustained mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m3 (~5 ppb). The non-carbon-based sorbent appeared to offer the potential for regeneration, that is, desorption of mercury by temperature swing (using nitrogen and steam at temperatures above where adsorption takes place). A Corning cordierite monolith treated with a Group IB metal offered limited potential as a mercury sorbent. However, a Corning carbon-based monolith containing prereduced metallic species similar to those found on the noncarbon sorbents did not exhibit significant or sustained mercury reduction. EERC sorbents prepared with Group IB and IIB selenide appeared to have some promise for mercury capture. Unfortunately, these sorbents also released Se, as was evidenced by the measurement of H2Se in the effluent gas. All sorbents tested with arsine or hydrogen selenide, including Corning monoliths and the Group IB and IIB metal-based materials, showed an ability to capture arsine or hydrogen selenide at 400°F and 600 psig. Based on current testing, the noncarbon metal-based sorbents appear to be the most effective arsine

  3. Radiolytically-induced novel materials and their application to waste processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Massimo Bertino; Akira Tokuhiro; Tadashi Tokuhiro

    2007-01-01

    In the present NEER project we investigated two different types of gel materials with respect to potential applications in environmental remediation, including mixed waste generated from the nuclear fuel cycles. The materials under study were: (1) silica-polymer based aerogel composites into which specific metallic cations diffuse into and remain, and (2) polymer gels made of thermo-sensitive polymer networks, whose functional groups can be ''tailored'' to have a preferred affinity for specific cations, again diffusing into and remaining in the network under a volumetrically, contractive phase-transition. The molecular, diffusion of specific cations, including those of concern in low-level waste streams, into the gel materials studied here indicates that a scaled, engineered system can be designed so that it is passive; that is, minimal (human) intervention and risk would be involved in encapsulating LLW species. In addition, the gel materials hold potential significance in environmental remediation of and recovery of metallic cations identified in respective domains and physico-chemical processes. In brief, silica gels start as aqueous/liquid solutions of base catalyzed silica hydrogels and metal ions (targeted species), such as silver. The metal ions are reduced radiolytically and migrate through the solution to form clusters. Upon post-irradiation processing, aerogel monoliths, extremely lightweight but mechanically strong, that encapsulate the metals are produced. Interestingly the radiolytic or photonic source can be gamma-rays and/or other rays from ''artificial sources'', such as reactors, or ''inherent sources'' like those characterizing mixed waste. Polymer gels, in contrast exhibit thermally-induced volumetric contraction at 20-50 C by expelling water from the gels physical state. Further, some functional groups that capture di- or tri-valent cations from aqueous solutions can be incorporated into the polymer networks on synthesis, including by radiolytic

  4. Radiolytically-induced novel materials and their application to waste processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Massimo Bertino, Akira Tokuhiro, Tadashi Tokuhiro

    2007-12-05

    In the present NEER project we investigated two different types of gel materials with respect to potential applications in environmental remediation, including mixed waste generated from the nuclear fuel cycles. The materials under study were: (1) silica-polymer based aerogel composites into which specific metallic cations diffuse into and remain, and (2) polymer gels made of thermo-sensitive polymer networks, whose functional groups can be ''tailored'' to have a preferred affinity for specific cations, again diffusing into and remaining in the network under a volumetrically, contractive phase-transition. The molecular, diffusion of specific cations, including those of concern in low-level waste streams, into the gel materials studied here indicates that a scaled, engineered system can be designed so that it is passive; that is, minimal (human) intervention and risk would be involved in encapsulating LLW species. In addition, the gel materials hold potential significance in environmental remediation of and recovery of metallic cations identified in respective domains and physico-chemical processes. In brief, silica gels start as aqueous/liquid solutions of base catalyzed silica hydrogels and metal ions (targeted species), such as silver. The metal ions are reduced radiolytically and migrate through the solution to form clusters. Upon post-irradiation processing, aerogel monoliths, extremely lightweight but mechanically strong, that encapsulate the metals are produced. Interestingly the radiolytic or photonic source can be gamma-rays and/or other rays from ''artificial sources'', such as reactors, or ''inherent sources'' like those characterizing mixed waste. Polymer gels, in contrast exhibit thermally-induced volumetric contraction at 20-50 C by expelling water from the gels physical state. Further, some functional groups that capture di- or tri-valent cations from aqueous solutions can be incorporated

  5. Polyethyleneglycol/silver functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel for environmental application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumari, G. Vanitha; Asha, S.; Ananth, A. Nimrodh; Rajan, M. A. Jothi; Mathavan, T.

    2018-04-01

    Polyethylene glycol (PEG)/Silver (Ag) functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel (RGOA) was synthesized. PEG/Ag decorated reduced graphene oxide aerogel was characterized using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The surface morphology of PEG/Ag/RGOA was analyzed using scanning electron microscope. The non-covalent interaction between reduced graphene oxide layers and the interaction between PEG and Ag on RGOA were studied by FT-IR spectra. It was observed that the interaction between Ag and PEG could enhance the properties of RGOA. Methyl Orange (MO) dye degradation was observed from UV-Vis Spectra. The process was studied by monitoring the simultaneous decrease in the height of UV-Vis absorption peak of dye solution. The results show that PEG/RGOA and PEG/Ag/RGOA are an efficient catalyst for dye degradation.

  6. 1D Ni-Co oxide and sulfide nanoarray/carbon aerogel hybrid nanostructures for asymmetric supercapacitors with high energy density and excellent cycling stability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Pin; Tian, Jian; Sang, Yuanhua; Tuan, Chia-Chi; Cui, Guanwei; Shi, Xifeng; Wong, C P; Tang, Bo; Liu, Hong

    2016-09-15

    The fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes with high energy density and excellent cycling stability is still a great challenge. A carbon aerogel, possessing a hierarchical porous structure, high specific surface area and electrical conductivity, is an ideal backbone to support transition metal oxides and bring hope to prepare electrodes with high energy density and excellent cycling stability. Therefore, NiCo 2 S 4 nanotube array/carbon aerogel and NiCo 2 O 4 nanoneedle array/carbon aerogel hybrid supercapacitor electrode materials were synthesized by assembling Ni-Co precursor needle arrays on the surface of the channel walls of hierarchical porous carbon aerogels derived from chitosan in this study. The 1D nanostructures grow on the channel surface of the carbon aerogel vertically and tightly, contributing to the enhanced electrochemical performance with ultrahigh energy density. The energy density of NiCo 2 S 4 nanotube array/carbon aerogel and NiCo 2 O 4 nanoneedle array/carbon aerogel hybrid asymmetric supercapacitors can reach up to 55.3 Wh kg -1 and 47.5 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 400 W kg -1 , respectively. These asymmetric devices also displayed excellent cycling stability with a capacitance retention of about 96.6% and 92% over 5000 cycles.

  7. Dopamine-imprinted monolithic column for capillary electrochromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aşır, Süleyman; Sarı, Duygu; Derazshamshir, Ali; Yılmaz, Fatma; Şarkaya, Koray; Denizli, Adil

    2017-11-01

    A dopamine-imprinted monolithic column was prepared and used in capillary electrochromatography as stationary phase for the first time. Dopamine was selectively separated from aqueous solution containing the competitor molecule norepinephrine, which is similar in size and shape to the template molecule. Morphology of the dopamine-imprinted column was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The influence of the organic solvent content of mobile phase, applied pressure and pH of the mobile phase on the recognition of dopamine by the imprinted monolithic column has been evaluated, and the imprinting effect in the dopamine-imprinted monolithic polymer was verified. Developed dopamine-imprinted monolithic column resulted in excellent separation of dopamine from structurally related competitor molecule, norepinephrine. Separation was achieved in a short period of 10 min, with the electrophoretic mobility of 5.81 × 10 -5  m 2 V -1 s -1 at pH 5.0 and 500 mbar pressure. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  8. Novel sound phenomena in superfluid helium in aerogel and other impure superfluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brusov, Peter; Brusov, Paul; Lawes, Gavin; Lee, Chong; Matsubara, Akira; Ishikawa, Osamu; Majumdar, Pinaki

    2003-01-01

    During the last decade new techniques for producing impure superfluids with unique properties have been developed. This new class of systems includes superfluid helium confined to aerogel, HeII with different impurities (D 2 , N 2 , Ne, Kr), superfluids in Vycor glasses, and watergel. These systems exhibit very unusual properties including unexpected acoustic features. We discuss the sound properties of these systems and show that sound phenomena in impure superfluids are modified from those in pure superfluids. We calculate the coupling between temperature and pressure oscillations for impure superfluids and for superfluid He in aerogel. We show that the coupling between these two sound modes is governed either by c∂ρ/∂c or σρ a ρ s (for aerogel) rather than thermal expansion coefficient ∂ρ/∂T, which is enormously small in pure superfluids. This replacement plays a fundamental role in all sound phenomena in impure superfluids. It enhances the coupling between the two sound modes that leads to the existence of such phenomena as the slow mode and heat pulse propagation with the velocity of first sound observed in superfluids in aerogel. This means that it is possible to observe in impure superfluids such unusual sound phenomena as slow pressure (density) waves and fast temperature (entropy) waves. The enhancement of the coupling between the two sound modes decreases the threshold values for nonlinear processes as compared to pure superfluids. Sound conversion, which has been observed in pure superfluids only by shock waves should be observed at moderate sound amplitude in impure superfluids. Cerenkov emission of second sound by first sound (which never been observed in pure superfluids) could be observed in impure superfluids

  9. Core-Shell Structuring of Pure Metallic Aerogels towards Highly Efficient Platinum Utilization for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Bin; Hübner, René; Sasaki, Kotaro; Zhang, Yuanzhe; Su, Dong; Ziegler, Christoph; Vukmirovic, Miomir B; Rellinghaus, Bernd; Adzic, Radoslav R; Eychmüller, Alexander

    2018-03-05

    The development of core-shell structures remains a fundamental challenge for pure metallic aerogels. Here we report the synthesis of Pd x Au-Pt core-shell aerogels composed of an ultrathin Pt shell and a composition-tunable Pd x Au alloy core. The universality of this strategy ensures the extension of core compositions to Pd transition-metal alloys. The core-shell aerogels exhibited largely improved Pt utilization efficiencies for the oxygen reduction reaction and their activities show a volcano-type relationship as a function of the lattice parameter of the core substrate. The maximum mass and specific activities are 5.25 A mg Pt -1 and 2.53 mA cm -2 , which are 18.7 and 4.1 times higher than those of Pt/C, respectively, demonstrating the superiority of the core-shell metallic aerogels. The proposed core-based activity descriptor provides a new possible strategy for the design of future core-shell electrocatalysts. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Final Project Report

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duer, Karsten

    1997-01-01

    The report summarizes the work that has been carried out within the project "B1 AEROGELS" as a part of the IEA SH&CP Task 18 "Advanced Glazing and Associated Materials For SolarAnd Building Applications". By providing at the same time thermal insulation and transparency the silica aerogel is a very...

  11. Biomimetic small peptide functionalized affinity monoliths for monoclonal antibody purification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiangyu; Xia, Donghai; Han, Hai; Peng, Kun; Zhu, Peijie; Crommen, Jacques; Wang, Qiqin; Jiang, Zhengjin

    2018-08-09

    The rapid development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in therapeutic and diagnostic applications has necessitated the advancement of mAbs purification technologies. In this study, a biomimetic small peptide ligand 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid-Arg-Arg-Gly (DAAG) functionalized monolith was fabricated through a metal ion chelation-based multi-step approach. The resulting monolith showed good chromatographic performance. Compared with the Ni 2+ based IMAC monolith, the DAAG functionalized monolith exhibited not only excellent specificity but also higher dynamic binding capacity (DBC). The 10% DBC and 50% DBC for hIgG reached as high values as 26.0 and 34.6 mg/mL, respectively, at a ligand density of 8.8 μmol/mL, due to the high porosity and accessibility of the monolithic matrix. Moreover, the stability of the DAAG functionalized monolith in successive breakthrough experiments indicates that it has a promising potential for long-term use in mAbs purification. Finally, the DAAG functionalized monolith was successfully applied to the purification of trastuzumab or human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) from biological samples. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. CoFe2O4/carbon nanotube aerogels as high performance anodes for lithium ion batteries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Sun

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available High-performance lithium ion batteries (LIBs require electrode material to have an ideal electrode construction which provides fast ion transport, short solid-state ion diffusion, large surface area, and high electric conductivity. Herein, highly porous three-dimensional (3D aerogels composed of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4, CFO nanoparticles (NPs and carbon nanotubes (CNTs are prepared using sustainable alginate as the precursor. The key feature of this work is that by using the characteristic egg-box structure of the alginate, metal cations such as Co2+ and Fe3+ can be easily chelated via an ion-exchange process, thus binary CFO are expected to be prepared. In the hybrid aerogels, CFO NPs interconnected by the CNTs are embedded in carbon aerogel matrix, forming the 3D network which can provide high surface area, buffer the volume expansion and offer efficient ion and electron transport pathways for achieving high performance LIBs. The as-prepared hybrid aerogels with the optimum CNT content (20 wt% delivers excellent electrochemical properties, i.e., reversible capacity of 1033 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and a high specific capacity of 874 mAh g−1 after 160 cycles at 1 A g−1. This work provides a facile and low cost route to fabricate high performance anodes for LIBs. Keywords: Alginate, Aerogels, Cobalt ferrite, Anode, Lithium-ion battery

  13. Processing and characterization of multi-cellular monolithic bioceramics for bone regenerative scaffolds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ari-Wahjoedi, Bambang; Ginta, Turnad Lenggo; Parman, Setyamartana; Abustaman, Mohd Zikri Ahmad

    2014-01-01

    Multicellular monolithic ceramic body is a ceramic material which has many gas or liquid passages partitioned by thin walls throughout the bulk material. There are many currently known advanced industrial applications of multicellular ceramics structures i.e. as supports for various catalysts, electrode support structure for solid oxide fuel cells, refractories, electric/electronic materials, aerospace vehicle re-entry heat shields and biomaterials for dental as well as orthopaedic implants by naming only a few. Multicellular ceramic bodies are usually made of ceramic phases such as mullite, cordierite, aluminum titanate or pure oxides such as silica, zirconia and alumina. What make alumina ceramics is excellent for the above functions are the intrinsic properties of alumina which are hard, wear resistant, excellent dielectric properties, resists strong acid and alkali attacks at elevated temperatures, good thermal conductivities, high strength and stiffness as well as biocompatible. In this work the processing technology leading to truly multicellular monolithic alumina ceramic bodies and their characterization are reported. Ceramic slip with 66 wt.% solid loading was found to be optimum as impregnant to the polyurethane foam template. Mullitic ceramic composite of alumina-sodium alumino disilicate-Leucite-like phases with bulk and true densities of 0.852 and 1.241 g cm −3 respectively, pore linear density of ±35 cm −1 , linear and bulk volume shrinkages of 7-16% and 32 vol.% were obtained. The compressive strength and elastic modulus of the bioceramics are ≈0.5-1.0 and ≈20 MPa respectively

  14. Processing and characterization of multi-cellular monolithic bioceramics for bone regenerative scaffolds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ari-Wahjoedi, Bambang, E-mail: bambang-ariwahjoedi@petronas.com.my [Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan (Malaysia); Centre for Intelligent Signal and Imaging Research, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar (Malaysia); Ginta, Turnad Lenggo [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan (Malaysia); Centre for Intelligent Signal and Imaging Research, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tro (Malaysia); Parman, Setyamartana [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan (Malaysia); Abustaman, Mohd Zikri Ahmad [Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company Sdn Bhd, Lvl. 52, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers, KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

    2014-10-24

    Multicellular monolithic ceramic body is a ceramic material which has many gas or liquid passages partitioned by thin walls throughout the bulk material. There are many currently known advanced industrial applications of multicellular ceramics structures i.e. as supports for various catalysts, electrode support structure for solid oxide fuel cells, refractories, electric/electronic materials, aerospace vehicle re-entry heat shields and biomaterials for dental as well as orthopaedic implants by naming only a few. Multicellular ceramic bodies are usually made of ceramic phases such as mullite, cordierite, aluminum titanate or pure oxides such as silica, zirconia and alumina. What make alumina ceramics is excellent for the above functions are the intrinsic properties of alumina which are hard, wear resistant, excellent dielectric properties, resists strong acid and alkali attacks at elevated temperatures, good thermal conductivities, high strength and stiffness as well as biocompatible. In this work the processing technology leading to truly multicellular monolithic alumina ceramic bodies and their characterization are reported. Ceramic slip with 66 wt.% solid loading was found to be optimum as impregnant to the polyurethane foam template. Mullitic ceramic composite of alumina-sodium alumino disilicate-Leucite-like phases with bulk and true densities of 0.852 and 1.241 g cm{sup −3} respectively, pore linear density of ±35 cm{sup −1}, linear and bulk volume shrinkages of 7-16% and 32 vol.% were obtained. The compressive strength and elastic modulus of the bioceramics are ≈0.5-1.0 and ≈20 MPa respectively.

  15. Strong-coupling effects in superfluid 3He in aerogel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoyama, Kazushi; Ikeda, Ryusuke

    2007-01-01

    Effects of impurity scatterings on the strong-coupling (SC) contribution, stabilizing the ABM (axial) pairing state, to the quartic term of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy of superfluid 3 He are theoretically studied to examine recent observations suggestive of an anomalously small SC effect in superfluid 3 He in aerogels. To study the SC corrections, two approaches are used. One is based on a perturbation in the short-range repulsive interaction, and the other is a phenomenological approach used previously for the bulk liquid by Sauls and Serene [Phys. Rev. B 24, 183 (1981)]. It is found that the impurity scattering favors the BW pairing state and shrinks the region of the ABM pairing state in the T-P phase diagram. In the phenomenological approach, the resulting shrinkage of the ABM region is especially substantial and, if assuming an anisotropy over a large scale in aerogel, leads to justifying the phase diagrams determined experimentally

  16. Detachable strong cation exchange monolith, integrated with capillary zone electrophoresis and coupled with pH gradient elution, produces improved sensitivity and numbers of peptide identifications during bottom-up analysis of complex proteomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhenbin; Yan, Xiaojing; Sun, Liangliang; Zhu, Guijie; Dovichi, Norman J

    2015-04-21

    A detachable sulfonate-silica hybrid strong cation-exchange monolith was synthesized in a fused silica capillary, and used for solid phase extraction with online pH gradient elution during capillary zone electrophoresis-tandem mass spectrometry (CZE-MS/MS) proteomic analysis. Tryptic digests were prepared in 50 mM formic acid and loaded onto the strong cation-exchange monolith. Fractions were eluted using a series of buffers with lower concentration but higher pH values than the 50 mM formic acid background electrolyte. This combination of elution and background electrolytes results in both sample stacking and formation of a dynamic pH junction and allows use of relatively large elution buffer volumes while maintaining reasonable peak efficiency and resolution. A series of five pH bumps were applied to elute E. coli tryptic peptides from the monolith, followed by analysis using CZE coupled to an LTQ-Orbitrap Velos mass spectrometer; 799 protein groups and 3381 peptides were identified from 50 ng of the digest in a 2.5 h analysis, which approaches the identification rate for this organism that was obtained with an Orbitrap Fusion. We attribute the improved numbers of peptide and protein identifications to the efficient fractionation by the online pH gradient elution, which decreased the complexity of the sample in each elution step and improved the signal intensity of low abundance peptides. We also performed a comparative analysis using a nanoACQUITY UltraPerformance LCH system. Similar numbers of protein and peptide identifications were produced by the two methods. Protein identifications showed significant overlap between the two methods, whereas peptide identifications were complementary.

  17. KFeSbTe3: A quaternary chalcogenide aerogel for preferential adsorption of polarizable hydrocarbons and gases

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Ejaz

    2015-01-01

    The first telluride-based quaternary aerogel KFeSbTe3 is synthesized by a sol-gel metathesis reaction between Fe(OAc)2 and K3SbTe3 in dimethyl formamide. The aerogel has an exceptionally large surface area 652 m2 g-1 which is amongst the highest reported for chalcogenide-based aerogels. This predominantly mesoporous material shows preferential adsorption for toluene vapors over cyclohexane or cyclopentane and CO2 over CH4 or H2. The remarkably high adsorption capacity for toluene (9.31 mmol g-1) and high selectivity for gases (CO2/H2: 121 and CO2/CH4: 75) suggest a potential use of such materials in adsorption-based separation processes for the effective purification of hydrocarbons and gases. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015.

  18. Photoluminescence characteristics of sintered silica glass doped with Cu ions using mesoporous SiO{sub 2}-PVA nanocomposite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ikeda, Hiroshi [Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580 (Japan); Murata, Takahiro [Faculty of Education and Master' s Course in Education, Kumamoto University, 2-40-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto 860-8555 (Japan); Fujino, Shigeru, E-mail: fujino@astec.kyushu-u.ac.jp [Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580 (Japan)

    2015-07-15

    Monolithic silica glasses doped with Cu ions were prepared by immersing a mesoporous SiO{sub 2}-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite in a copper nitrate solution followed by sintering at 1100 °C for 12 h in air. The Cu ions were reduced from divalent to monovalent during the sintering process and consequently Cu{sup +} was doped into the silica glass matrix. The sintered glass possessed blue or yellow photoluminescence (PL) under UV irradiation, depending on the total concentration of Cu ions in the sintered silica glass. At a lower concentration below 30 ppm, the isolated Cu{sup +} existed in the glass matrix resulting in the blue PL. However, above 70 ppm, the Cu{sup +}–Cu{sup +} pairs were present, exhibiting the yellow PL. It was demonstrated that the PL characteristics of the sintered silica glasses doped with monovalent copper ions were affected by the total concentration of Cu ions in the glass, which can be adjusted as a function of the immersion conditions. - Highlights: • Silica glass doped with Cu{sup +} was fabricated by sintering the nanocomposite. • The Cu ions were reduced from divalent to monovalent during the sintering process. • The sintered glass possessed blue or yellow PL under UV irradiation. • The blue and yellow PL are due to isolated Cu{sup +} and Cu{sup +}–Cu{sup +} pairs, respectively. • The PL characteristics depended on the total concentration of Cu ions in the glass.

  19. Particle identification system based on dense aerogel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnyakov, A.Yu. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Barnyakov, M.Yu. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State Technical University, 20, Karl Marx prospect, Novosibirsk, 630092 (Russian Federation); Beloborodov, K.I., E-mail: K.I.Beloborodov@inp.nsk.su [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, 2, Pirogova Street, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Bobrovnikov, V.S.; Buzykaev, A.R. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Danilyuk, A.F. [Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, 5, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Golubev, V.B. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, 2, Pirogova Street, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Gulevich, V.V. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Kononov, S.A.; Kravchenko, E.A. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, 2, Pirogova Street, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Onuchin, A.P.; Martin, K.A. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State Technical University, 20, Karl Marx prospect, Novosibirsk, 630092 (Russian Federation); Serednyakov, S.I. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 11, akademika Lavrentieva prospect, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, 2, Pirogova Street, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); and others

    2013-12-21

    A threshold Cherenkov counter based on dense aerogel with refraction index n=1.13 is described. This counter is used for kaon identification at momenta below 1 GeV/c in the SND detector, which takes data at the VEPP-2000 e{sup +}e{sup −} collider. The results of measurements of the counter efficiency using electrons, muons, pions, and kaons produced in e{sup +}e{sup −} annihilation are presented.

  20. Aspartic acid incorporated monolithic columns for affinity glycoprotein purification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armutcu, Canan; Bereli, Nilay; Bayram, Engin; Uzun, Lokman; Say, Rıdvan; Denizli, Adil

    2014-02-01

    Novel aspartic acid incorporated monolithic columns were prepared to efficiently affinity purify immunoglobulin G (IgG) from human plasma. The monolithic columns were synthesised in a stainless steel HPLC column (20 cm × 5 mm id) by in situ bulk polymerisation of N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid (MAAsp), a polymerisable derivative of L-aspartic acid, and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). Monolithic columns [poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid) (PHEMAsp)] were characterised by swelling studies, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The monolithic columns were used for IgG adsorption/desorption from aqueous solutions and human plasma. The IgG adsorption depended on the buffer type, and the maximum IgG adsorption from aqueous solution in phosphate buffer was 0.085 mg/g at pH 6.0. The monolithic columns allowed for one-step IgG purification with a negligible capacity decrease after ten adsorption-desorption cycles. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Fire resistance of prefabricated monolithic slab

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gravit Marina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A prefabricated monolithic slab (PMS has a number of valuable advantages, they allow to significantly decrease the weight of construction keeping the necessary structural-load capacity, to speed up and cheapen work conduction, to increase the heat isolating properties of an enclosure structure [1]. In order to create a design method of prefabricated monolithic slab fire-resistance, it's necessary to perform a series of PMS testing, one of which is being described in this article. Subjected to the test is a fragment of prefabricated monolithic slab with polystyrene concrete inserts along the beams with bent metal profile 250 mm thick, with a 2.7 m span loaded with evenly spread load equal to 600 kg/m2. After 3 hour testing for fire-resistance [2] no signs of construction ultimate behavior were detected.

  2. Extended Leach Testing of Simulated LAW Cast Stone Monoliths

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serne, R. Jeffrey [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Westsik, Joseph H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Williams, Benjamin D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Jung, H. B. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wang, Guohui [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2015-07-09

    This report describes the results from long-term laboratory leach tests performed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) to evaluate the release of key constituents from monoliths of Cast Stone prepared with four simulated low-activity waste (LAW) liquid waste streams. Specific objectives of the Cast Stone long-term leach tests described in this report focused on four activities: 1. Extending the leaching times for selected ongoing EPA-1315 tests on monoliths made with LAW simulants beyond the conventional 63-day time period up to 609 days reported herein (with some tests continuing that will be documented later) in an effort to evaluate long-term leaching properties of Cast Stone to support future performance assessment activities. 2. Starting new EPA-1315 leach tests on archived Cast Stone monoliths made with four LAW simulants using two leachants (deionized water [DIW] and simulated Hanford Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) Site vadose zone pore water [VZP]). 3. Evaluating the impacts of varying the iodide loading (starting iodide concentrations) in one LAW simulant (7.8 M Na Hanford Tank Waste Operations Simulator (HTWOS) Average) by manufacturing new Cast Stone monoliths and repeating the EPA-1315 leach tests using DIW and the VZP leachants. 4. Evaluating the impacts of using a non-pertechnetate form of Tc that is present in some Hanford tanks. In this activity one LAW simulant (7.8 M Na HTWOS Average) was spiked with a Tc(I)-tricarbonyl gluconate species and then solidified into Cast Stone monoliths. Cured monoliths were leached using the EPA-1315 leach protocol with DIW and VZP. The leach results for the Tc-Gluconate Cast Stone monoliths were compared to Cast Stone monoliths pertechnetate.

  3. Improving thermal insulation of TC4 using YSZ-based coating and SiO2 aerogel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Jin

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, air plasmas spray (APS was used to prepare YSZ and Sc2O3–YSZ (ScYSZ coating in order to improve the thermal insulation ability of TC4 alloy. SiO2 aerogel was also synthesized and affixed on TC4 titanium alloy to inhabit thermal flow. The microstructures, phase compositions and thermal insulation performance of three coatings were analyzed in detail. The results of thermal diffusivity test by a laser flash method showed that the thermal diffusivities of YSZ, Sc2O3–YSZ and SiO2 aerogel are 0.553, 0.539 and 0.2097×10−6 m2/s, respectively. Then, the thermal insulation performances of three kinds of coating were investigated from 20 °C to 400 °C using high infrared radiation heat flux technology. The experimental results indicated that the corresponding temperature difference between the top TC4 alloy (400 °C and the bottom surface of YSZ is 41.5 °C for 0.6 mm thickness coating. For 1 mm thickness coating, the corresponding temperature difference between the top TC4 alloys (400 °C and the bottom surface of YSZ, ScYSZ, SiO2 aerogel three specimens is 54, 54.6 and 208 °C, respectively. The coating thickness and species were found to influence the heat insulation ability. In these materials, YSZ and ScYSZ exhibited a little difference for heat insulation behavior. However, SiO2 aerogel was the best one among them and it can be taken as protection material on TC4 alloys. In outer space, SiO2 aerogel can meet the need of thermal insulation of TC4 of high-speed aircraft.

  4. The Dependence of CNT Aerogel Synthesis on Sulfur-driven Catalyst Nucleation Processes and a Critical Catalyst Particle Mass Concentration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoecker, Christian; Smail, Fiona; Pick, Martin; Weller, Lee; Boies, Adam M

    2017-11-06

    The floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) process permits macro-scale assembly of nanoscale materials, enabling continuous production of carbon nanotube (CNT) aerogels. Despite the intensive research in the field, fundamental uncertainties remain regarding how catalyst particle dynamics within the system influence the CNT aerogel formation, thus limiting effective scale-up. While aerogel formation in FC-CVD reactors requires a catalyst (typically iron, Fe) and a promotor (typically sulfur, S), their synergistic roles are not fully understood. This paper presents a paradigm shift in the understanding of the role of S in the process with new experimental studies identifying that S lowers the nucleation barrier of the catalyst nanoparticles. Furthermore, CNT aerogel formation requires a critical threshold of Fe x C y  > 160 mg/m 3 , but is surprisingly independent of the initial catalyst diameter or number concentration. The robustness of the critical catalyst mass concentration principle is proved further by producing CNTs using alternative catalyst systems; Fe nanoparticles from a plasma spark generator and cobaltocene and nickelocene precursors. This finding provides evidence that low-cost and high throughput CNT aerogel routes may be achieved by decoupled and enhanced catalyst production and control, opening up new possibilities for large-scale CNT synthesis.

  5. Toward Aerogel Electrodes of Superior Rate Performance in Supercapacitors through Engineered Hollow Nanoparticles of NiCo2O4.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jianjiang; Chen, Shuai; Zhu, Xiaoyi; She, Xilin; Liu, Tongchao; Zhang, Huawei; Komarneni, Sridhar; Yang, Dongjiang; Yao, Xiangdong

    2017-12-01

    A biomass-templated pathway is developed for scalable synthesis of NiCo 2 O 4 @carbon aerogel electrodes for supercapacitors, where NiCo 2 O 4 hollow nanoparticles with an average outer diameter of 30-40 nm are conjoined by graphitic carbon forming a 3D aerogel structure. This kind of NiCo 2 O 4 aerogel structure shows large specific surface area (167.8 m 2 g -1 ), high specific capacitance (903.2 F g -1 at a current density of 1 A g -1 ), outstanding rate performance (96.2% capacity retention from 1 to 10 A g -1 ), and excellent cycling stability (nearly without capacitance loss after 3000 cycles at 10 A g -1 ). The unique structure of the 3D hollow aerogel synergistically contributes to the high performance. For instance, the 3D interconnected porous structure of the aerogel is beneficial for electrolyte ion diffusion and for shortening the electron transport pathways, and thus can improve the rate performance. The conductive carbon joint greatly enhances the specific capacity, and the hollow structure prohibits the volume changes during the charge-discharge process to significantly improve the cycling stability. This work represents a giant step toward the preparation of high-performance commercial supercapacitors.

  6. Hydrothermal stability of silica, hybrid silica and Zr-doped hybrid silica membranes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    ten Hove, Marcel; Luiten-Olieman, Mieke W.J.; Huiskes, Cindy; Nijmeijer, Arian; Winnubst, Louis

    2017-01-01

    Hybrid silica membranes have demonstrated to possess a remarkable hydrothermal stability in pervaporation and gas separation processes allowing them to be used in industrial applications. In several publications the hydrothermal stability of pure silica or that of hybrid silica membranes are

  7. Preparation of ZrW{sub 2}O{sub 8} xerogel and aerogels by sol-gel chemistry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noailles, L.; Dunn, B.; Larson, D. [Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Starkovich, J.; Peng, H. [Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, CA (United States)

    2004-07-01

    Xerogels and aerogels with the composition ZrW{sub 2}O{sub 8} have been synthesized using sol-gel chemistry. For the xerogel, trigonal phase is formed at 650 C and the cubic phase forms above 1100 C in less than 30 seconds. Aerogels have been prepared with an average pore diameter of 110 Aa and a surface area of 510 m{sup 2}g{sup -1}. (orig.)

  8. Influence of different carbon monolith preparation parameters on pesticide adsorption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vukčević Marija

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The capacity of carbon monolith for pesticide removal from water, and the mechanism of pesticide interaction with carbon surface were examined. Different carbon monolith samples were obtained by varying the carbonization and activation parameters. In order to examine the role of surface oxygen groups in pesticide adsorption, carbon monolith surface was functionalized by chemical treatment in HNO3, H2O2 and KOH. The surface properties of the obtained samples were investigated by BET surface area, pore size distribution and temperature-programmed desorption. Adsorption of pesticides from aqueous solution onto activated carbon monolith samples was studied by using five pesticides belonging to different chemical groups (acetamiprid, dimethoate, nicosulfuron, carbofuran and atrazine. Presented results show that higher temperature of carbonization and the amount of activating agent allow obtaining microporous carbon monolith with higher amount of surface functional groups. Adsorption properties of the activated carbon monolith were more readily affected by the amount of the surface functional groups than by specific surface area. Results obtained by carbon monolith functionalisation showed that π-π interactions were the main force for adsorption of pesticides with aromatic structure, while acidic groups play an important role in adsorption of pesticides with no aromatic ring in the chemical structure.

  9. A poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate blend monolith with nanoscale porous structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiaoxia; Uyama, Hiroshi

    2013-10-04

    A stimuli-responsive poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/sodium alginate (SA) blend monolith with nanoscale porous (mesoporous) structure is successfully fabricated by thermally impacted non-solvent induced phase separation (TINIPS) method. The PVA/SA blend monolith with different SA contents is conveniently fabricated in an aqueous methanol without any templates. The solvent suitable for the fabrication of the present blend monolith by TINIPS is different with that of the PVA monolith. The nanostructural control of the blend monolith is readily achieved by optimizing the fabrication conditions. Brunauer Emmett Teller measurement shows that the obtained blend monolith has a large surface area. Pore size distribution plot for the blend monolith obtained by the non-local density functional theory method reveals the existence of the nanoscale porous structure. Fourier transform infrared analysis reveals the strong interactions between PVA and SA. The pH-responsive property of the blend monolith is investigated on the basis of swelling ratio in different pH solutions. The present blend monolith of biocompatible and biodegradable PVA and SA with nanoscale porous structure has large potential for applications in biomedical and environmental fields.

  10. Fumed silica. Fumed silica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sukawa, T.; Shirono, H. (Nippon Aerosil Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan))

    1991-10-18

    The fumed silica is explained in particulate superfineness, high purity, high dispersiveness and other remarkable characteristics, and wide application. The fumed silica, being presently produced, is 7 to 40nm in average primary particulate diameter and 50 to 380m{sup 2}/g in specific surface area. On the surface, there coexist hydrophilic silanol group (Si-OH) and hydrophobic siloxane group (Si-O-Si). There are many characteristics, mutually different between the fumed silica, made hydrophobic by the surface treatment, and untreated hydrophilic silica. The treated silica, if added to the liquid product, serves as agent to heighten the viscosity, prevent the sedimentation and disperse the particles. The highest effect is given to heighten the viscosity in a region of 4 to 9 in pH in water and alcohol. As filling agent to strengthen the elastomer and polymer, and powder product, it gives an effect to prevent the consolidation and improve the fluidity. As for its other applications, utilization is made of particulate superfineness, high purity, thermal insulation properties and adsorption characteristics. 2 to 3 patents are published for it as raw material of quartz glass. 38 refs., 16 figs., 4 tabs.

  11. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-cellulose nanofibril (CNF)-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrid organic aerogels with superior mechanical properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qifeng Zheng; Alireza Javadi; Ronald Sabo; Zhiyong Cai; Shaoqin Gong

    2013-01-01

    Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–cellulose nanofibril (CNF)–multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrid organic aerogels were prepared using an environmentally friendly freeze-drying process with renewable materials. The material properties of these “green” hybrid aerogels were characterized extensively using various techniques. It was found that adding a small amount of CNFs...

  12. Ultralow-density SiO2 aerogels prepared by a two-step sol-gel process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Jue; Li Qing; Shen Jun; Zhou Bin; Chen Lingyan; Jiang; Weiyang

    1996-01-01

    Low density SiO 2 gels are prepared by a two-step sol-gel process from TEOS. The influence of various solution ratios on the gelation process is investigated. The comparative characterization of gels using different solvent, such as ethanol, acetone and methyl cyanide, is also given. The ultralow-density SiO 2 aerogels with density less than 10 kg/m 3 are prepared by CO 2 supercritical drying technique. The structure difference between SiO 2 aerogels prepared by conventional single-step process and the two-step process is also presented

  13. Robust naphthyl methacrylate monolithic column for high performance liquid chromatography of a wide range of solutes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonnada, Murthy; El Rassi, Ziad

    2015-08-28

    An organic monolithic column based on the co-polymerization of 2-naphthyl methacrylate (NAPM) as the functional monomer and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) as the crosslinker was introduced for high performance reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPC). The co-polymerization was performed in situ in a stainless steel column of 4.6mm i.d. in the presence of a ternary porogen consisting of 1-dodecanol and cyclohexanol. This monolithic column (referred to as naphthyl methacrylate monolithic column or NMM column) showed high mechanical stability at relatively high mobile phase flow velocity indicating that the column has excellent hydrodynamic characteristics. To characterize the NMM column, different probe molecules including alkyl benzenes, and aniline, benzene, toluene and phenol derivatives were chromatographed on the column and the results in terms of k, selectivity and plate counts were compared to those obtained on an octadecyl silica (ODS) column in order to assess the presence of π-π and hydrophobic interactions on the NMM column under otherwise the same elution conditions. The NMM column offered additional π-π interactions with aromatic molecules in addition to hydrophobic interactions under RPC elution conditions. Run-to-run and column-to-column reproducibility of solute k values were evaluated, and percent relative standard deviation of column using shallow (30min at 1.0mL/min), steep (10min at 1.0mL/min) and ultra steep (1min at 3.0mL/min) linear gradient elution at increasing ACN concentration in the mobile phase using a 10cm×4.6mm i.d. column in case of shallow and steep linear gradients and a 3cm×4.6mm i.d. column for ultra steep linear gradient. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. A preliminary study on the etching behavior of SiO sub 2 aerogel film with CHF sub 3 gas

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, S J; Yeom, G Y

    1998-01-01

    Etching behavior of SiO sub 2 aerogel film has been investigated in order to examine the feasibility of its application to an interlevel dielectric material. Low dielectric property of SiO sub 2 aerogel film is simply originated from its highly porous structure, but interconnected particles are covered with surface chemical bondings (-OH, -OC sub 2 H sub 5 , etc). Etching experiments have been performed with high density inductively coupled CHF sub 3 plasma. The effects of porous structure and surface chemical bondings on the etching of SiO sub 2 aerogel film have been analyzed. The changes of surface morphology were observed using scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analyses revealed compositions and chemical bonding states of reaction layer. From the analyses, 3-dimensional etching was not feasible macroscopically in SiO sub 2 aerogel film even with its porous nature because network structure was maintained through the etching process. Internal surface chemicals seemed to act an ...

  15. Aerogel-Based Antennas for Aerospace and Terrestrial Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meador, Mary Ann (Inventor); Miranda, Felix (Inventor); Van Keuls, Frederick (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    Systems and methods for lightweight, customizable antenna with improved performance and mechanical properties are disclosed. In some aspects, aerogels can be used, for example, as a substrate for antenna fabrication. The reduced weight and expense, as well as the increased ability to adapt antenna designs, permits a systems to mitigate a variety of burdens associated with antennas while providing added benefits.

  16. The hybrid nanostructure of MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle/carbon aerogel for symmetric supercapacitors with high energy density

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Pin; Zhao, Zhenhuan; Li, Liyi; Tuan, Chia-Chi; Li, Haidong; Sang, Yuanhua; Jiang, Huaidong; Wong, C. P.; Liu, Hong

    2015-08-01

    Current applications of carbon-based supercapacitors are limited by their low energy density. One promising strategy to enhance the energy density is to couple metal oxides with carbon materials. In this study, a porous MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle/carbon aerogel hybrid nanostructure was synthesized by assembling MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle arrays on the surface of channel walls of hierarchical porous carbon aerogels derived from chitosan for the supercapacitor application. The synthetic process of the hybrid nanostructure involves two steps, i.e. the growth of Mn-Co precursors on carbon aerogel by a hydrothermal process and the conversion of the precursor into MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedles by calcination. The carbon aerogel exhibits a high electrical conductivity, high specific surface area and porous structure, ensuring high electrochemical performance of the hybrid nanostructure when coupled with the porous MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedles. The symmetric supercapacitor using the MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle/carbon aerogel hybrid nanostructure as the active electrode material exhibits a high energy density of about 84.3 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 600 W kg-1. The voltage window is as high as 1.5 V in neutral aqueous electrolytes. Due to the unique nanostructure of the electrodes, the capacitance retention reaches 86% over 5000 cycles.Current applications of carbon-based supercapacitors are limited by their low energy density. One promising strategy to enhance the energy density is to couple metal oxides with carbon materials. In this study, a porous MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle/carbon aerogel hybrid nanostructure was synthesized by assembling MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedle arrays on the surface of channel walls of hierarchical porous carbon aerogels derived from chitosan for the supercapacitor application. The synthetic process of the hybrid nanostructure involves two steps, i.e. the growth of Mn-Co precursors on carbon aerogel by a hydrothermal process and the conversion of the precursor into MnCo2O4.5 nanoneedles by

  17. A three-dimensional BiOBr/RGO heterostructural aerogel with enhanced and selective photocatalytic properties under visible light

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Xue [Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qing dao 266100 (China); Shi, Junjie, E-mail: junjieshiding@gmail.com [Institute of Applied and Physical Chemistry and Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology, University Bremen, Leobener Str. UFT, 28359 Bremen (Germany); Feng, Lijuan; Li, Chunhu [Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qing dao 266100 (China); Wang, Liang, E-mail: wangliangouc@ouc.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qing dao 266100 (China)

    2017-02-28

    Highlights: • A BiOBr/RGO aerogel photocatalyst was synthesized using dopamine as reducing agent. • BiOBr/RGO aerogel can be easily controlled morphology by a simple two-step method. • BiOBr/RGO aerogel photocatalyst exhibited superior performance in MO decoloration. - Abstract: A series of BiOBr/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) aerogel was fabricated using a two steps hydrothermal method. Various methods such as SEM, TEM, DRS and Raman spectroscopy were employed to fully characterize the as-obtained BiOBr/RGO. Their photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) were studied under visible light irradiation. The combination of BiOBr and RGO result in an improved activity. The sample with 10 wt% RGO abbreviated as BiOBr-G10 shows the highest activity. Moreover, this sample exhibits a selective visible-light photocatalytic behavior as the degradation rate over MO (80%) is much higher than that over Rhodamin B (50%) and phenol (35%) in 60 min. The XRD and photoluminescence emission spectroscopy characterization of the BiOBr-G10 samples indicates an increased crystallization of BiOBr and efficient quenching of photo-excited electrons and holes contributes to the improved photocatalytic activities.

  18. A three-dimensional BiOBr/RGO heterostructural aerogel with enhanced and selective photocatalytic properties under visible light

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Xue; Shi, Junjie; Feng, Lijuan; Li, Chunhu; Wang, Liang

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • A BiOBr/RGO aerogel photocatalyst was synthesized using dopamine as reducing agent. • BiOBr/RGO aerogel can be easily controlled morphology by a simple two-step method. • BiOBr/RGO aerogel photocatalyst exhibited superior performance in MO decoloration. - Abstract: A series of BiOBr/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) aerogel was fabricated using a two steps hydrothermal method. Various methods such as SEM, TEM, DRS and Raman spectroscopy were employed to fully characterize the as-obtained BiOBr/RGO. Their photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) were studied under visible light irradiation. The combination of BiOBr and RGO result in an improved activity. The sample with 10 wt% RGO abbreviated as BiOBr-G10 shows the highest activity. Moreover, this sample exhibits a selective visible-light photocatalytic behavior as the degradation rate over MO (80%) is much higher than that over Rhodamin B (50%) and phenol (35%) in 60 min. The XRD and photoluminescence emission spectroscopy characterization of the BiOBr-G10 samples indicates an increased crystallization of BiOBr and efficient quenching of photo-excited electrons and holes contributes to the improved photocatalytic activities.

  19. Acoustic of monolithic dome structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mostafa Refat Ismail

    2018-03-01

    The interior of monolithic domes have perfect, concave shapes to ensure that sound travels through the dome and perfectly collected at different vocal points. These dome structures are utilized for domestic use because the scale allows the focal points to be positioned across daily life activities, thereby affecting the sonic comfort of the internal space. This study examines the various acoustic treatments and parametric configurations of monolithic dome sizes. A geometric relationship of acoustic treatment and dome radius is established to provide architects guidelines on the correct selection of absorption needed to maintain the acoustic comfort of these special spaces.

  20. High-Performance Carbon Aerogel Air Cathodes for Microbial Fuel Cells

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Xiaoyuan; He, Weihua; Zhang, Rufan; Wang, Qiuying; Liang, Peng; Huang, Xia; Logan, Bruce E.; Fellinger, Tim-Patrick

    2016-01-01

    ) performance at a neutral pH is needed for efficient energy production. Here we show a nitrogen doped (≈4 wt%) ionothermal carbon aerogel (NDC) with a high surface area, large pore volume, and hierarchical porosity, with good electrocatalytic properties for ORR