Long Jeffrey W
Surface Chemistry Branch, Code 6170, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375, USA.
Acc Chem Res. 2007 Sep;40(9):854-62. doi: 10.1021/ar6000445. Epub 2007 May 26.
Ultraporous aperiodic solids, such as aerogels and ambigels, are sol-gel-derived equivalents of architectures. The walls are defined by the nanoscopic, covalently bonded solid network of the gel. The vast open, interconnected space characteristic of a building is represented by the three-dimensionally continuous nanoscopic pore network. We discuss how an architectural construct serves as a powerful metaphor that guides the chemist in the design of aerogel-like nanoarchitectures and in their physical and chemical transformation into multifunctional objects that yield high performance for rate-critical applications.
