Abstract
Sensing of chemical species in air, in water and in other solvents is important for a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to monitoring chemical species that might have environmental, health, forensic, manufacturing, or security implications. The unusual properties of aerogels – very high surface area, high porosity, low density – render them particularly appealing for sensing applications. In this chapter, we survey the published reports of the application of aerogels to chemical sensing. These include sensors based on silica, silica composite, titania, carbon and clay aerogels, with spectroscopic and conductimetric detection methods.
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Acknowledgments
Our own work with aerogels as platforms for chemical sensors has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF MRI CTS-0216153, NSF RUI CHE-0514527, NSF MRI CMMI-0722842, and NSF RUI CHE-0847901) and the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF 39796-B10). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Carroll, M.K., Anderson, A.M. (2011). Aerogels as Platforms for Chemical Sensors. In: Aegerter, M., Leventis, N., Koebel, M. (eds) Aerogels Handbook. Advances in Sol-Gel Derived Materials and Technologies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7589-8_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7589-8_27
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