Versatile Aerogel Fabrication by Freezing and Subsequent Freeze‐Drying of Colloidal Nanoparticle Solutions |
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| Authors: | Axel Freytag Dr Sara Sánchez‐Paradinas Suraj Naskar Natalja Wendt Dr Massimo Colombo Giammarino Pugliese Jan Poppe Cansunur Demirci Imme Kretschmer Prof?Dr Detlef W Bahnemann Prof?Dr Peter Behrens Dr Nadja C Bigall |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie, Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland;2. Laboratorium für Nano- und Quantenengineering (LNQE), Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland;3. Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland;4. Nanochemistry Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italien;5. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italien;6. Institut für Technische Chemie, Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland;7. Laboratory for Nanocomposite Materials, Department of Photonics, Faculty of Physics, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russland |
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| Abstract: | A versatile method to fabricate self‐supported aerogels of nanoparticle (NP) building blocks is presented. This approach is based on freezing colloidal NPs and subsequent freeze drying. This means that the colloidal NPs are directly transferred into dry aerogel‐like monolithic superstructures without previous lyogelation as would be the case for conventional aerogel and cryogel fabrication methods. The assembly process, based on a physical concept, is highly versatile: cryogelation is applicable for noble metal, metal oxide, and semiconductor NPs, and no impact of the surface chemistry or NP shape on the resulting morphology is observed. Under optimized conditions the shape and volume of the liquid equal those of the resulting aerogels. Also, we show that thin and homogeneous films of the material can be obtained. Furthermore, the physical properties of the aerogels are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | aerogels cryogels noble metal nanoparticles voluminous superstructures |
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