Research Information
- O.U.R. Research Program: Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)
- Major(s): Chemistry and Journalism
- Anticipated graduation year: 2021
- Title: Synthesis and characterization of frozen SiCO polymeric aerogels
- Faculty Research Mentor: Dr. Peter Kroll
- Faculty Academic Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
Abstract
Aerogels are a type of porous material with a range of applications, such as thermal insulation, catalytic support and filtration. Pore shape can affect how an aerogel is used. Wet aerogels were synthesized by a standard hydrosilylation reaction and frozen prior to drying. The pore structure of the resulting aerogel was analyzed. Aerogels that had been frozen displayed pores more “bottleneck” shaped pores, a pore opening that was significantly smaller than the inner pore diameter, while conventional gels displayed pores that were more uniformly sized.
Poster
