Aerogels are a class of materials that have gained increasing attention over the past several decades due to their exceptional physical and chemical properties. These materials are highly porous, with a low density and high surface area, allowing for applications such as insulation, catalysis, and energy storage. However, traditional aerogels, such as pure silica aerogels, suffer from brittleness and fragility, which limit their usefulness in many applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA number of thioether-containing zirconium siloxanes, differing in their composition and metal atom shielding degree with a siloxy substituent, were synthesized and characterized. Synthesis of such compounds made it possible to evaluate the effect of sulfur atoms' presence in the cured compositions on their dielectric properties, as well as to evaluate their curing ability and influence on mechanical characteristics compared to the sulfur-free analogs obtained earlier. Studying a wide range of compositions differing in their content and ratio of metallosiloxane and silica components revealed that such systems are still typical dielectrics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSilica hollow spheres with a diameter of 100-300 nm and a shell thickness of 8±2 nm were synthesized using a self-templating amphiphilic polymeric precursor, i.e., poly(ethylene glycol)-substituted hyperbranched polyethoxysiloxane.
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