Continuous droplet reactor for the production of millimeter sized spherical aerogels.

In order to enable future use of aerogels in heterogeneous solid or fluidized bed catalysis a method of production of millimeter sized monolithic Au/AlO aerogel spheres by a continuous flow reactor is developed. Flow velocities and synthesis parameters are optimized to produce aerogel spheres in three different sizes. The resulting aerogel spheres exhibit a porous aluminium oxide aerogel matrix with a large specific surface area of 400 m g on which gold nanoparticles are evenly distributed.

Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Materials by Dry Etching.

A novel synthesis method for ordered mesoporous carbons is presented. The inverse replication of a silica template was achieved using the carbonization of sucrose within mesoporous KIT-6. Instead of liquid acid etching, as in classical nanocasting, a novel dry chlorine etching procedure for template removal is presented for the first time.

Unusual ultra-hydrophilic, porous carbon cuboids for atmospheric-water capture.

There is significant interest in high-performance materials that can directly and efficiently capture water vapor, particularly from air. Herein, we report a class of novel porous carbon cuboids with unusual ultra-hydrophilic properties, over which the synergistic effects between surface heterogeneity and micropore architecture is maximized, leading to the best atmospheric water-capture performance among porous carbons to date, with a water capacity of up to 9.82 mmol g(-1) at P/P0 =0.