Progress in Applications of Aerogels and Supercritical Drying
A Special Issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049) belonging to the section "Materials Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 111
Editors
Interests: supercritical-fluids-assisted processes; membranes; aerogels; scaffolds; foams; micro- and nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Materials science is experiencing major challenges in balancing high performance with environmental responsibility. Aerogels, ultralight porous solid materials produced by carefully removing liquid from a three-dimensional gel, exemplify this transition. These materials are characterized by an ultra-low density (under 0.1 g/cm³), over 90% hierarchical porosity, and a high specific surface area, making them play a leading role in a wide range of applications. Supercritical CO2 drying remains the preferred method for removing liquid from the gel while maintaining the nanoporous network and avoiding collapse.
Recent research is expanding its scope beyond traditional aerogels to include innovative organic polymeric aerogels, bio-based aerogels or hybrid composites, and waste-derived aerogels. It also broadens the applications of these systems, with uses discussed in areas such as the efficiency of zero-emission buildings, as well as in emerging fields such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, environmental remediation, and the energy transition, including hydrogen storage.
This Special Issue, titled "Progress in Applications of Aerogels and Supercritical Drying," welcomes original research and review articles on the technological achievements obtained by integrating innovative precursors (biobased or synthetic materials) with cutting-edge supercritical drying processes to obtain sustainable and improved solutions.
Dr. Stefano Cardea
Dr. Stefania Mottola
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- aerogel
- supercritical drying
- process optimization
- biomaterials
- aerogel applicability (including insulation, energy transition, adsorption, drug delivery, tissue engineering)
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