Yujing Liu
Low-cost and efficient production of silica aerogels.
Email: [email protected]
Project title
Processing and development of silica aerogels
Supervisors
- Professor Lidija Siller
- Dr Xiao Han
Project description
Silica aerogels are interesting nanomaterials with remarkable properties. They have a high specific surface area, ultra-low density, and high porosity. Thus, they are suitable for use in extreme conditions such as cosmic dust capture.
We carry out conventional synthesis of silica aerogels by a sol-gel process: solvent exchange and drying. But these processes are tedious and expensive.
For instance, we need to use large quantities of low surface tension (LST) solvent and complicated equipment. This is true in both the ambient pressure drying (APD) method and the supercritical drying (SCD) method. We need economical synthesis of silica aerogels.
My research will produce silica aerogels by a low-cost and efficient route.
We will investigate using a cheap substitute solvent to replace the traditional LST solvent in the APD method. I will also prepare conventional silica aerogels for comparison.
We will do this by using catalysts to finish hydrolysis and condensation of precursor. We will age the aerogel in alcohol to enhance the silica network. Finally, we will replace the pore liquid with an alternative solvent, and dry at ambient pressure.
The result will provide a new method to prepare silica aerogels.
Interests
Reading, swimming, always looking for interesting things.
Qualifications
MSc in Sustainable Chemical Engineering