First rare-earth phosphate aerogel: sol-gel synthesis of monolithic ceric hydrogen phosphate aerogel

TL;DR

This paper reports the first synthesis of monolithic ceric hydrogen phosphate aerogels with high porosity and low density, characterized by various advanced techniques, expanding the potential applications of rare-earth phosphate aerogels.

Contribution

It introduces a novel sol-gel synthesis method for creating monolithic ceric hydrogen phosphate aerogels with unique structural properties.

Findings

Achieved high porosity (~99%) and low density (~10 μg/cm³) in ceric phosphate aerogels.

Characterized the aerogels as fibrous macroporous structures.

Demonstrated the feasibility of synthesizing rare-earth phosphate aerogels for potential applications.

Abstract

Since the late 1960s, ceric hydrogen phosphates have attracted the attention of scientists due to remarkable ion exchange, sorption, proton-conduction and catalytic properties. In this work, through the application of various solvents, we, for the first time, have obtained monolithic aerogels based on ceric hydrogen phosphates with high porosity (~99%) and extremely low density (~10 microg/cm3). The composition and structure of aerogels were thoroughly studied with XRD, TEM, SEM, XPS, low temperature nitrogen adsorption methods, TGA/DSC, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The aerogels were found to belong to the fibrous macroporous aerogels family.