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By studying the porous structure and adsorptive properties of sol‑gels, a Washington University researcher might be able to create new materials.
by Trish Barker Gels can be found low -- nestling amid the packing material for consumer electronics and leather goods to absorb damaging moisture -- and high -- traveling through space to capture comet dust. The pebbles of gel in your shoebox and comet-trailing aerogel, the lightest man-made material, share a common origin in the sol-gel process, a versatile technique for making ceramic and glass materials. In general, the method involves the transition of a system from a liquid filled with floating "sol" particles into a solid, but still highly porous, "gel" phase. Scientists understand how to make a range of materials using this process -- from thin film coatings to the aerogel sent on a comet quest by NASA. What scientists lack is a detailed, microscopic portrait of the complex interior structure of a given porous material. That's one of the questions being tackled by Lev Gelb, an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. Gelb uses computational resources at NCSA to model the spongelike structure of sol-gel materials. Detailed models of the structure of these materials could be used to explore how gels interact and what tasks different gels can perform. A thorough understanding of gel formation might also make it possible to engineer materials for specific applications.
Access Online | Posted 10-19-2004
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