Sprecher
Beschreibung
Aerogels are highly porous, ultra-lightweight solid materials and due to their unique physical, chemical, and mechanical properties, they are recognized as promising candidates for many applications such as thermal insulation, catalysis, environmental clean-up, sensors, or gas/energy storage devices [1].
Among aerogels, polymer-based aerogels are particularly interesting as they generally outperform traditional inorganic aerogels by offering superior mechanical properties (can be bent or folded without breaking), tunable molecular designs, and easier manufacturing and shaping and they have driven increasing attention over the last 25 years [1]. These aerogels are obtained by supercritical drying, ambient pressure drying or freeze drying of chemical gels made of permanent covalent cross-linked polymers or physical gels where the gel three-dimensional network is due to electrostatic interactions or to crystalline regions.
In this contribution, different aspects relative to the preparation, the structure, the morphology and the potential applications of covalent and physical aerogels will be discussed. In particular, composite aerogels based on syndiotactic polytyrene (s-PS) with nanoporous crystalline (NC) phase and photocatalysts such as titania and zinc oxide can be easily prepared from composite thermoversible gels. These composite aerogels display a synergistic action, since the NC crystalline aerogel concentrates the pollutants being present in traces in water, while the photocatalyst sites degrade the adsorbed molecules [2,3]. In addition to the high photodegradation efficiency, these aerogels are characterized by a complete reusability without regeneration steps, good chemical stability and excellent mechanical properties, which allow an easy recovery after water treatments. The preparation of highly transparent covalent polydivinylbenzene (PDVB) aerogels doped with 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,2-bis (5-phenyl-oxazolyl-2)-benzene (POPOP) fluorescent dyes will be also reported. These monolithic aerogels characterized can detect gas radionuclides and therefore support the use of scintillating porous aerogel in the development of sensors for detecting natural and anthropogenic radioactive gases.
[1] S. Takeshita, S. Mine, T. Ono, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 64, e202504250 (2025)
[2] O. Sacco, V. Vaiano, C. Daniel, W. Navarra, V. Venditto, Nanomaterials, 9, 1509 (2019)
[3] W. Navarra, O. Sacco, R. Rescigno. C. Daniel, V. Vaiano, D. Pisano, B. Brancato, F. Casertano, M. Raiola, V. Venditto, Catalysis Communications, 180, 106699 (2023)