Aerogel structural characterization

Carta D, Mountjoy G, Gass M, Navarra G, Casula MF, Corrias A (2007) Structural characterization study of FeCo alloy nanoparticles in a highly porous aerogel silica matrix. J Chem Phys 127 204705... 

In between, additional methods have been developed or adjusted for the structural characterization of aerogels. Particularly interesting is here the beam bending that allows determining mechanical and structural characteristics already in the gel state. 

Himmel B, Burger H, Gerber T, Olbertz A (1995) Structural characterization of Si02 aerogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 185 56-66. 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a more recent but very powerful tool used for structural characterization, in particular the determination of the average pore size [194-197]. MRI provides direct visualization of a deliberately introduced pore gas inside the aerogel and thus offers information on its microscopic morphology. The average pore size is obtained from the estimated diffusion coefficients. 

A detailed discussion of the properties of aerogels can be found in several recent review articles (51—55) and the references therein. This section provides a physical basis for these properties by focusing on the microstructure of an aerogel. The intent is to provide a bridge between the two previous sections, which discuss the preparative and drying parameters that affect microstructure, and the next one, which outlines the potential applications made possible by unique structural features. The emphasis is on silica aerogels because they have been the most extensively characterized. 

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