Aerogels Handbook

Preface (M. A. Aegerter, N. Leventis and M. M. Koebel)
List of Contributors (M.A. Aegerter)

1. History of Aerogels

1.1.1 History of aerogels (A.C. Pierre)

2. Materials and processing

2.1 Inorganic-silica based aerogels
2.1.1 SiO₂ aerogels (A.C. Pierre and A. Rigacci)
2.1.2 Hydrophobic silica aerogels: Review of synthesis, properties and
applications (A. M. Anderson and M. K. Carroll)
2.1.3 Superhydrophobic and flexible aerogels (A. Venkatewara Rao, D. Y. Nadargi and M.M. Koebel)
2.1.4 Sodium silicate based aerogels via ambient pressure drying (A. Venkatewara Rao, Uzma K.H. Bangi, A. Parvathy Rao and M.M. Koebel)

2.2 Inorganic-non silicate aerogels
2.2.1 ZrO₂ aerogels (L. B. Hammouda, I. Mejri, M. K. Younes and A. Ghorbel)
2.2.2 Preparation of TiO₂ aerogels-like materials under ambient pressure (H. Hirashima)
2.2.3 A robust approach to inorganic aerogels: The use of epoxides in sol-gel synthesis (T.F. Baumann, A.E. Gash and J.H. Satcher Jr.)

2.3 Organic-natural and synthetic aerogels
2.3.1 Monoliths and fibrous cellulose aerogels (L. Ratke)
2.3.2 Cellulosic and polyurethane aerogels (A. Rigacci and P. Achard)
2.3.3 Resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogels (S. Mulik and C. Sotiriou-Leventis)
2.3.4 Natural aerogels with interesting environmental features: C- sequestration and pesticides trapping (T. Woignier)

2.4 Composite aerogels
2.4.1 Polymer crosslinked aerogels (N. Leventis and Hongbing Lu)
2.4.2 Interpenetrating organic/inorganic networks of resorcinol-formaldehyde/metal oxide aerogels (N. Leventis)
2.4.3 Improving elastic properties of polymer reinforced aerogels (M. A. Meador)
2.4.4 Aerogels containing metal, alloy and oxide nanoparticles embedded into dielectric matrices (A. Corrias and M. F. Casula)

2.5 Exotic aerogels
2.5.1 Chalcogenide aerogels (S. Brock and H.Yu)
2.5.2 Biopolymer-containing aerogels: Chitosan silica hybrid aerogels (C. J. Yao, X. S. Liu and W. Risen)
2.5.3 Anisotropic aerogels by lithography (M. Bertino)
2.5.4 Aerogels synthesis by sonocatalysis: Sonogels (L. Esquivias, M. Piñero, V.Morales-Flórez and N. de la Rosa-Fox)

3. Properties

3.1.1 Structural characterization of aerogel materials (G. Reichenauer)
3.1.2 Mechanical characterization of aerogels (Hongbing Lu, Huiyang Luo and N. Leventis)
3.1.3 Thermal properties of aerogels (H-P Ebert)
3.1.4 Simulation and modeling of aerogels using atomistic and mesoscale methods (L. D. Gelb)

4. Applications

4.1 Energy
4.1.1 Aerogels and sol-gel composites as nanostructured energetic materials (A. Gash, R. L. Simpson and J. H. Satcher Jr.)4.1.2 Aerogels for superinsulation: A synoptic view (M. M. Koebel, A. Rigacci and P. Achard)

4.2 Chemistry and Physics
4.2.1 Aerogels as platforms for chemical sensors (M. K. Carroll and A. M. Anderson)
4.2.2 Transparent silica aerogel blocks for high energy physics research (H. Yokogawa)
4.2.3 Sintering of silica aerogels for glass synthesis: Application to nuclear waste containment (T. Woignier, J. Reynes and J. Phalippou)

4.3 Biomedical and pharmaceutical
4.3.1 Biomedical applications of aerogels (W. Yin and D. Rubenstein)
4.3.2 Pharmaceutical applications of aerogels (I. Smirnova)

4.4 Space and airborne
4.4.1 Applications of aerogels in space exploration (S. Jones and S. Sakamoto)
4.4.2 Airborne ultrasonic transducer (H. Nagahara and M. Hashimoto)

4.5 Metal industry
4.5.1 Aerogels for foundry application (L. Ratke and B. Milow)

4.6 Art
4.6.1 Sculptures out of silica aerogel (I. Michaloudis)

4.7 Other
4.7.1 Preparation and ap
About the Author: Prof. Dr. Michel A. Aegerter graduated as Engineer and Physicist in 1962 at the Swiss Institute of Technology- EPFL, Switzerland and received his Ph.D degree (Dr. ès Sciences) in 1966 at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. After post-doctoral studies at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA, he joined again the University of Neuchâtel as assistant professor and then the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, Brazil as a full Professor till 1995 where he initiated research in the sol-gel field in 1984 with the collaboration of Prof. Dr. J. Zarzycki. In 1995 he accepted an invitation to be Director of the Department of Coating Technology at the Leibniz-Institute for New Materials gem. GmbH- INM in Saarbruecken, Germany, a position that he still hold. He is also Honorary Professor at the University of Saarland, Saarbruecken (Germany). He is the present Chairman of the Technical Committee TC-16 (Sol-Gel Glasses) of the International Commission on Glass (ICG), member of the American Ceramic Society, Material Research Society, SPIE, of several International Advisory Committees, of the Editorial Board of the International J. of Photochemistry, co-editor for Europe of the J. Sol-Gel Science and Technology, editorial Chairman of the International Conference on Coatings on Glass-ICCG as well as referee for several international scientific journals. His present fields of activity covers the research and industrial development of functional, conducting, photoelectrochemical and electrochromic coatings on glasses and plastics, the development of new sol-gel and nanocomposite coating technology. Prof. Dr. Aegerter is the author and co-author of more than 440 scientific publications, 8 patents and co-editor of 12 books.