Emerging Technologies in Materials Science

What Is Aerogel

‘Aerogel’ is a broad term used to talk about an extraordinary group of materials that have been used since the 1960s in space travel but are now finding uses across a whole range of industries. ‘Aerogel’ is not a specific mineral or material with a set chemical formula-rather, the term is used to encompass all materials with a specific geometrical structure. This structure is an extremely porous, solid foam, with high connectivity between branched structures of a few nanometres across. Though aerogel is technically a foam, it can take many different shapes and forms. The majority of aerogel is composed of silica, but carbon, iron oxide, organic polymers, semiconductor nanostructures, gold and copper can also form aerogel. However, within the aerogel structure, very little is solid material, with up to 99.8% of the structure consisting of nothing but air. This unique composition gives aerogel an almost ghostly appearance; hence it is often referred to as ‘frozen smoke’.

How You Will Benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Aerogel

Chapter 2: Nanogel

Chapter 3: Carbon nanofoam

Chapter 4: Fogbank

Chapter 5: Silica gel

Chapter 6: Materials science

Chapter 7: Materials science in science fiction

(II) Answering the public top questions about aerogel.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of aerogel in many fields.

(IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of aerogel' technologies.

Who This Book Is For

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of aerogel.