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Microwave, Volume 1, Issue 2 (September 2025) – 1 article

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17 pages, 1570 KiB  
Article
Overcoming Scaling Challenges in Sol–Gel Synthesis: A Microwave-Assisted Approach for Iron-Based Energy Materials
by Judith González-Lavín, Ana Arenillas and Natalia Rey-Raap
Microwave 2025, 1(2), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/microwave1020006 - 30 Jun 2025
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Abstract
There is currently an effort to scale up sol–gel nanomaterials without compromising quality, and microwave heating can pave the way for this due to its heating efficiency, resulting in a fast and homogeneous process. In this work, the sol–gel synthesis of transition metal [...] Read more.
There is currently an effort to scale up sol–gel nanomaterials without compromising quality, and microwave heating can pave the way for this due to its heating efficiency, resulting in a fast and homogeneous process. In this work, the sol–gel synthesis of transition metal aerogels, specifically iron-based aerogels, is studied using a microwave-assisted sol–gel methodology in an open-system multimode device as a potential route to scale-up production. Different approaches were tested to evaluate the best way to increase yield per batch, with different vessel shapes and volumes. It is shown that the shape and size of the vessel can be determinant in the interaction with microwaves and, thus, in the heating process, influencing the sol–gel reactions and the characteristics and homogeneity of the obtained nanomaterials. It has been found that a wide vessel is preferable to a tall and narrow one since the heating process is more homogeneous in the former and the sol–gel and cross-linking reactions take place earlier, which improves the mechanical properties of the final nanomaterial. For mass production of nanomaterials, the interaction of the reagents with the microwave field must be considered, and this depends not only on their nature but also on their volume, shape, and arrangement inside the cavity. Full article
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