Beginner's guide to AEROGEL!

What is Aerogel? How is it made, what are its properties and uses? How good of an insulator is it, really? (The pyromaniac jokes have started in my family...) It’s the lightest material on earth, is extremely versatile and it has the potential to change the way we live.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to aerogel
0:38 Manufacturing process
2:50 Type of aerogel
3:35 Properties of aerogel
8:02 Uses of aerogel

There are many different types of aerogel, the most common is silica aerogel. The manufacturing process starts with four main ingredients
- Tetramethoxysilane (tetramethyl orthosilicate TMOS), Si(OCH3)4
- Methanol, CH3OH
- Deionized water H2O
- Ammonium hydroxide NH4OH

We have to add ammonium hydroxide and methanol to water to make a catalyst solution and add methanol to TMOS to make an alkoxide solution. When TMOS reacts with water, the methoxy group is replaced with a hydroxide group, polymerization begins and silica or silicon dioxide is formed.

The silica slowly thickens to form a SOL are solid nanoparticles dispersed in a liquid. This sol is taken out of the beaker and poured into molds to set and form a gel which is a continuous 3D network of silica in liquid water. These gel forms soak in methanol for several days to form an ALCOGEL. In the final stage, the alcogel is placed in a pressure vessel. Liquid carbon dioxide is pumped into the pressure vessel and heated to the supercritical point where it can either be a gas or a liquid. This converts alcogel into AEROGEL.

Aerogel can be made of many different materials.
- Silica aeroge is made of a silicon dioxide and is blueish in color.
- RF or resorcinol-formaldehyde polymer aerogel is deep red in color.
- Chromia or chromium oxide aerogel is deep blue and opaque.
- Cadmium sulphide aerogel is yellow and opaque.
- Iron oxyhydroxide aerogel is yellow.
- Nickel oxide aerogel is greenish.
- Iron oxide aerogel is rust red and opaque.
- Carbon aerogel is black in color.

Properties of silica aerogel.
- Nanotechnology which is a branch of technology that deals with dimensions and tolerances of less than 100 nanometers.
- The solids in silica aerogels are just 3% of the total volume. The remaining 97% is air which has very little room to move so it essentially acts like trapped air.
- It has an R-value of R20 per inch of thickness compared to R3.5 per inch for a fiberglass blanket and R4 for EPS foam
- Color. When visible light hits the surface of aerogel, it is scattered by the tiny pores. Blue light, which has the shortest wavelength is scattered more, giving aerogel its smoky blue color against dark backgrounds and yellowish against white backgrounds.
- Aerogel monoliths are very expensive. They cost about $1 per cubic centimeter or $23,000 per pound, making it more expensive than gold.
- It is very fragile and is not dangerous or toxic in small amounts.
- It is naturally hydrophilic. The OH or hydroxyl group attracts water, fills the nanopores and makes the aerogel useless. However, it can be treated with hydrophobic or water-repelling compounds to make the aerogel waterproof. Aerogel is also oleophilic which means that it has a strong affinity for oil.

Applications of silica aerogel.
- Aerogel insulation offers the highest R value per inch of any insulating material. Thermal wrap aerogel blankets are used in historic preservation where space is very limited. They are “vapor open” so they allow any water vapor in the wall to evaporate.
- They are also used to insulate subsea pipelines.
- The hydrophilic nature of silica aerogel allows it to absorb moisture in the air and control the relative humidity in museums and library exhibitions.
- NASA uses aerogel to capture comet dust which moves at speeds 6 times faster than the speed of a rifle bullet.
- It can also be used to clean up oil spills since
- Cryogel blankets are used for insulating cold temperature environment, Pyrogel blankets can be used in hot environments
- LLBean’s Primaloft jackets which have an aerogel infill
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SOURCES:
   • World's Lightest Solid!  
   • I Waterproofed Myself With Aerogel!  
   • Видео  
   • Making aerogel  
   • supercritical fluids  
   • Aspen Aerogels Cryogel Z Installation...  
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#aerogel #insulation #experiments #stem #diy #comparison