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• Zhou, B
• Zhang, Z
• Shen, J
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Materials 2013, 6(3), 941-968; doi:10.3390/ma6030941

Review

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

Ai Du ^1,2,* , Bin Zhou ^1,2,* , Zhihua Zhang ^1,2  and Jun Shen ^1,2

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China ² School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 4 January 2013; in revised form: 19 February 2013 / Accepted: 4 March 2013 / Published: 8 March 2013

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sol-gel Derived Materials)

Download PDF Full-Text [1741 KB, uploaded 8 March 2013 13:21 CET]

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: aerogel; preparation; review; state of matter; nanoporous; sol-gel; history; tendency

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