The use of poloxamers (PL) have been one of the most widely strategies used for drug delivery systems. The copolymer Poloxamer 407 is a non-ionic surfactant consisting of polioxyethylene (POE) and polioxypropylene (POP) that has many pharmaceutical applications due to its thermoreversible properties. PL are biocompatible and for this reason, are very attractive as carrier systems for administra...

A gel consists of one or more gelling agents and a fluid (organic solvent, water, supercritical liquid) which behaves as a viscoelastic material (soft matter) due to the immobilization of solvent molecules in a three-dimensional network. This network results from the self-assembly of the gelling agent into fibres via non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, π–π stacking, van der Waal...

Novel and more sustainable sound absorbing materials are produced through the valorization of waste biomass sources by following circular economy principles. Cellulosic nanocrystals (CNC) were extracted from Posidonia oceanica dead leaves, spent barely grains, kale stems (KS) using a simplified purification protocol. These used to prepare cellulosic aerogels, evaluating effect three parameters,...

Silica or various silicate aerogels can be characterized by highly porous, open cell, low density structures. The synthesis parameters influence the three-dimensional porous structures by modifying the kinetics and mechanism of hydrolysis and condensation processes. Numerous investigations have shown that the structure of porous materials can be tailored by variations in synthesis conditions (e...

Cellulose nanofiber/AlOOH aerogel for flame retardant and thermal insulation was successfully prepared through a hydrothermal method. Their flame retardant and thermal insulation properties were investigated. The morphology image of the cellulose nanofiber/AlOOH exhibited spherical AlOOH with an average diameter of 0.5 μm that was wrapped by cellulose nanofiber or adhered to them. Cellulose nan...

This paper reports a method to integrate silica aerogels monolithically in microfluidic chips. Silica Aerogel is a highly porous bulk material. The gel was synthesized from tetraethyl orthosilicate by a sol-gel process. Polyethylene glycol and an extended aging period were used to strengthen the matrix minimizing gel shrinkage. This technique allows alcogel structures with high strength and sti...

Complexation in symmetric solutions of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes is studied theoretically. We include polyion crosslinking due to formation of thermoreversible ionic pairs. The electrostatic free energy is calculated within the Random Phase Approximation taking into account the structure of thermoreversible polyion clusters. The degree of ion association is obtained self-consistently ...

A stimuli-responsive BAB triblock copolymer of PNIPAm- b -PVP- -PNIPAm, which displayed a thermoreversible sol–gel transition, was readily synthesized via redox-initiated aqueous RAFT mediated polymerization, under mild conditions.

Anisotropic particles are used widely to control the thermodynamic and rheological properties of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food products, composite materials, and cements. In particular, rod-like particle suspensions exhibit unique equilibrium and non-equilibrium states at low particle loadings due to large excluded volumes and orientation-dependent attractions. However, the coupled effects o...

This chapter focuses on one of the most studied aerogel materials, silica aerogels. It aims at presenting a brief overview of the elaboration steps (sol–gel synthesis, aging, and drying), the textural and chemical characteristics (aggregation features, porosity, and surface chemistry), the main physical properties (from thermal, mechanical, acoustical, and optical, to biological, medical, etc.)...