Advances in Silica Xero- and Aerogels: From Synthesis to a Structure–Activity Relationship (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on “Advances in Silica Xero- and Aerogels: From Synthesis to a Structure–Activity Relationship (2nd Edition)” is dedicated to the recent developments in silica xero- and aerogels, from fundamental aspects to their synthesis, characterization, and applications.

Different synthesis routes can be applied for the synthesis of silica particles. Notably, the sol–gel technique offers a flexible and versatile approach to synthesize a wide range of nano-/microstructures. This Special Issue has the general aim to present different synthesis approaches, the relations between the synthesis parameters, and the final product properties.

The increasing number of scientific papers on the relationship between silica materials/composites’ structure and activity shows the importance of this topic; therefore, this Special Issue also focuses on silica xero- and aerogels’ chemical composition and textural and morphological characterization at the micro- and nano-scale level. Exhaustive characterization can be achieved using common characterization methods such as FT-IR or Raman spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, thermal analysis, XRD, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), and porosimetry measurements. The presented methods can be completed very well with special characterizations methods such as small-angle X-ray or neutron scattering and ¹⁸O or ²⁹Si solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

We welcome papers about the application of different silica materials and composites in biology, optics, catalysis, medicine, construction, etc.

We sincerely hope that this Special Issue will provide some new insights into the structure–activity relationship of silica materials.

Dr. Adél Len
Dr. Zoltán Dudás
Guest Editors

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