Abstract
Aerogels were prepared through the self-assembly of cellulose nanowhiskers in a benign manner. Preparation of these aerogels only requires sonication in water to form a hydrogel, solvent exchange with ethanol and supercritical CO2 drying. Aerogels were prepared with varying cellulose nanowhisker content and characterised with X-ray diffraction, BET analysis and electron microscopy. Their density and porosity varied linearly with varying concentrations of cellulose nanowhiskers in the initial hydrogel and confirmed that gel shrinkage upon drying was limited to, on average, 6.5%. We achieved densities down to 78 mg cm−3 with high specific surface areas up to 605 m2 g−1. Mesopores displaying a bimodal size distributions with maxima centred around 4.3 and 15.5 nm accounted for 5–11% of total pore volume. Micropores accounted for less than 1% of total pore volume with the remaining fraction being macropores.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.