From design to application: aerogels for adsorbing toxic molecules in health fields

Bo Hang; Jun Shen; Changbin Chen; Yihua Zhao

doi:10.11910/j.issn.2791-2043.2024.1.01

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

From design to application: aerogels for adsorbing toxic molecules in health fields

REVIEW ARTICLES | Updated：2026-01-13

- From design to application: aerogels for adsorbing toxic molecules in health fields
- Sterile Supply Vol. 3, Issue 1, (2024)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
  2.ABFA Environmental Technology (Nanjing) Company, Ltd, Nanjing China
  3.School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  4.Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China
  5.Administration Office, Jiangsu Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Jiangsu Province Hospital and Nanjing Medical University First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing, China
- Author bio：
  
  Dr. Bo Hang, Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Funds：
- DOI：10.11910/j.issn.2791-2043.2024.1.01
  CLC：
- Published：15 May 2024
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Hang Bo,Shen Jun,Chen Changbin,et al.From design to application: aerogels for adsorbing toxic molecules in health fields[J].Sterile Supply,2024,03(01):1-11.
DOI：

Hang Bo,Shen Jun,Chen Changbin,et al.From design to application: aerogels for adsorbing toxic molecules in health fields[J].Sterile Supply,2024,03(01):1-11. DOI： 10.11910/j.issn.2791-2043.2024.1.01.

摘要

Abstract

Aerogels are 3D porous materials with broad applications in various fields due to their structural characteristics and physicochemical properties. In recent years

aerogels are getting more and more attention as the unprecedented global pressure of the energy and environmental problems grows. As porous materials with high surface area and specific functional groups

aerogels are ideal to be used to preferentially adsorb certain toxic molecules or ions in the air and water. Such selectivity is achieved by material design

such as pore size control in the aerogel synthesis and/or by surface functionalization during and after synthesis. Certain aerogel compositions have been patented in recent years but their applications in the areas of adsorption remain very limited. After a brief introduction of the aerogel development history and general properties

this perspective highlights the recent progress in the development and mechanistic studies of adsorptive aerogels

and potential application of carbon- and silica-based aerogels as adsorbents in environmental remediation and healthcare areas

such as volatile organic compound (VOC) adsorption and hospital settings as air purification and sterilization. We also discussed gaps and recommended future studies as well as challenges in the fields. It is also apparent that more information is needed for a better understanding of the structural implications of the aerogels in specific pollutant adsorption and applications.

关键词

Keywords

references

S. S. Kistler , “ Coherent expanded aerogels and jellies ,” Nature , vol. 127 , no. 3211 , p. 741 , May 1931.

J. Shen and X. Zhang , “ Recent progress and applications of aerogels in China ,” Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology , vol. 106 , no. 2 , pp. 290 - 318 , 2023 .

Teichner S J , Nicolaon G A , Vicarini M A , et al . Inorganic oxide aerogels . Adv Colloid Interface Sci , 1976 , 5 ( 3 ): 245 – 273 .

P. H. Tewari , A. J. Hunt and K. D. Lofftus , “ Ambient-temperature supercritical drying of transparent silica aerogels ,” Materials Letters , vol. 3 , no. 9-10, pp. 363 - 367 , Jul. 1985 .

P. Meti , Wang Q. , D. B. Mahadik et al. , “ Evolutionary progress of silica aerogels and their classification based on composition: an overview ,” Nanomaterials , vol. 13 , no. 9 , p. 1498 , Apr. 2023 .

R. W. Pekala , “ Organic aerogels from the polycondensation of resorcinol with formaldehyde ,” Journal of Materials Science , vol. 24 , no. 9 , pp. 3221 - 3227 , 1989 .

Shen J , Wang J , Wu X . Silica aerogels and their fractal structure . Chin Phys , 1994 , 8 : 483 – 487

Shen J , Wang J , Wu X , et al . Study on structure controlling of silica aerogels . Mater Sci Technol , 1994 , 2 ( 4 ): 87 – 93

Shen J , Wang J . The Structural investigation of silica aerogels via small angle X-Ray scattering . Chin J Light Scattering , 1995 , 7( 2 , 3 ): 241 – 242 .

C. A. García-González , T. Budtova , L. Durães et al. , “ An opinion paper on aerogels for biomedical and environmental applications ,” Molecules , vol. 24 , no. 9 , p. 1815 , May2019.

P. Franco , S. Cardea , A. Tabernero et al. , “ Porous aerogels and adsorption of pollutants from water and air: a review ,” Molecules , vol. 26 , no. 15 , p. 4440 , Jul. 2021 .

L. Zhang , Y. Lei , P. He et al. , “ Carbon material-based aerogels for gas adsorption: fabrication , structure design, functio nal tailoring, and applications,” Nanomaterials, vol. 12 , no. 18 , p. 3172 , Sept. 2022.

K. Goryunova , Y. Gahramanli and R. Gurbanova , “ Adsorption properties of silica aerogel-based materials ,” RSC Advances , vol. 13 , no. 27 , pp. 18207 - 18216 , Jun. 2023 .

I. Ihsanullah , M. Sajid , S. Khan et al. , “ Aerogel-based adsorbents as emerging materials for the removal of heavy metals from water: Progress , challenges, and prospects,” Separation and Purification Technology , vol. 291 , p. 120923 , 2022 .

E. David and V. C. Niculescu , “ Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as environmental pollutants: occurrence and mitigation using nanomaterials ,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , vol. 18 , no. 24 , p. 13147 , Dec. 2021 .

J. Spengler and Q. Chen , “ Indoor air quality factors in designing a healthy building ,” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment , vol. 25 , pp. 567 - 600 , 2000 .

Huo D , Zhang X , Wei J , et al , Preparation and characterization of cellulose nanofibril/chitosan aerogels with high-adsorbability and sensitive indication for indoor free formaldehyde . Int J Biol Macromol , 2024 , 259 ( Pt 1 ): 128891 .

M. Sleiman , L. Gundel , J. Pankow et al. , “ Formation of carcinogens indoors by surface-mediated reactions of nicotine with nitrous acid , leading to potential thirdhand smoke hazards,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 107 , pp. 6576 - 6581 , 2010 .

P. Jacob 3rd Benowitz , , H. Destaillats et al. , “ Thirdhand smoke: new evidence , challenges, and future directions,” Chemical Research in Toxicology, vol. 30 , no. 1 , pp. 270 - 294 , Jan2017.

H. Yang , X. Wang , P. Wang et al. , “ Thirdhand tobacco smoke exposure increases the genetic background-dependent risk of pan-tumor development in Collaborative Cross mice ,” Environment International , vol. 174 , p. 107876 , 2023 .

M. Hachem , M. Loizeau , N. Saleh et al. , “ Short-term association of in-vehicle ultrafine particles and black carbon concentrations with respiratory health in Parisian taxi drivers ,” Environment International , vol. 147 , p. 106346 , 2021 .

S. Alwin and X. Sahaya Shajan , “ Aerogels: promising nanostructured materials for energy conversion and storage applications ,” Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy , vol. 9 , no. 2 , p. 7 , 2020 .

B. G. Bernardes , P. Del Gaudio , P. Alves et al. , “ Bioaerogels: promising nanostructured materials in fluid management , healing and regeneration of wounds,” Molecules, vol. 26 , no. 13 , p. 3834 , Jun. 2021 .

Y. Li , Z. Ye , Y. Yu et al. , “ A combined method for human health risk area identification of heavy metals in urban environments ,” Journal of Hazardous Materials , vol. 449 , p. 131067 , 2023 .

F. Baraka and J. Labidi , “ The emergence of nanocellulose aerogels in CO 2 adsorption ,” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 912 , p. 169093 , 2024.

Jatoi A S , Hashmi Z , Mubarak N M , et al . Aerogel for environmental remediation . In book : Nanotechnology for Environmental Remediation, Edited by Thomas S, Thomas M S, and Laly A. Pothen, L A. 2022 , WILEY-VCH GmbH .

G. Aylaz , M. Okan , M. Duman et al. , “ Study on cost-efficient carbon aerogel to remove antibiotics from water resources ,” ACS Omega , vol. 5 , no. 27 , pp. 16635 - 16644 , Jul. 2020 .

Akdis C , Agache I , eds . Global atlas of asthma , 2nd ed . Eur Acad Allergy Clin Immunol ; 2021 .

J. K. Oh , N. Kohli , Zhang Y . et al. , “ Nanoporous aerogel as a bacteria repelling hygienic material for healthcare environment ,” Nanotechnology , vol. 27 , no. 8 , p. 085705 , Feb. 2016 .

B. Darwesh , H. Aldawsari and S. Badr-Eldin , “ Optimized chitosan/anion polyelectrolyte complex based inserts for vaginal delivery of fluconazole : in vitro/In vivo evaluation ,” Pharmaceutics, vol. 10 , no. 4 , p. 227 , Nov. 2018 .

S. Iravani , “ Silica-based nanosystems against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pathogenic viruses ,” Critical Reviews in Microbiology , vol. 49 , no. 5 , pp. 598 - 610 , Sept. 2023.

COST Action–CA 18125 –Advanced engineering and research of aerogels for environment and life sciences. Available online: https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18125/#tabs|Name:overview .

C. A. García-González , A. Sosnik , J. Kalmár et al. , “ Aerogels in drug delivery: From design to application ,” Journal of Controlled Release , vol. 332 , pp. 40 - 63 , 2021 .

D. Govindarajan , N. Duraipandy , K. V. Srivatsan et al. , “ Fabrication of hybrid collagen aerogels reinforced with wheat grass bioactives as instructive scaffolds for collagen turnover and angiogenesis for wound healing applications ,” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces , vol. 9 , no. 20 , pp. 16939 - 16950 , May 2017.

H. Maleki , L. Durães , C. A. García-González et al. , “ Synthesis and biomedical applications of aerogels: Possibilities and challenges ,” Advances in Colloid and Interface Science , vol. 236 , pp. 1 - 27 , Oct. 2016 .

Y. K. Li , D. K. Yang , Y. C. Chen et al. , “ A novel three-dimensional aerogel biochip for molecular recognition of nucleotide acids ,” Acta Biomaterialia , vol. 6 , no. 4 , pp. 1462 - 1470 , 2010 .

S. Bhartiya , R. Singh , A. Singh et al. , “ Nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel synthesis by solvothermal gelation for supercapacitor application ,” Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry , vol. 26 , no. 12 , pp. 2829 - 2839 , Dec. 2022 .

T. F. Baumann , G. A. Fox , J. H. Satcher et al. , “ Synthesis and characterization of copper-doped carbon aerogels ,” Langmuir , vol. 18 , no. 18 , pp. 7073 - 7076 , 2002 .

L. K. Tinoco Navarro and C . Jaroslav , “ Enhancing photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 photocatalyst and heterojunctions : a comprehensive review of the impact of biphasic systems in aerogels and xerogels sy nthesis, methods, and mechanisms for environmental applications,” Gels, vol. 9 , no. 12 , p. 976 , Dec. 2023 .

S. Sepahvand , A. Ashori and M. Jonoobi , “ Cellulose nanofiber aerogels modified with titanium dioxide nanoparticles as high-performance nanofiltration materials ,” International Journal of Biological Macromolecules , vol. 256 , p. 128204 , 2024 .

B. Hang , “ Formation and repair of tobacco carcinogen-derived bulky DNA adducts ,” Journal of Nucleic Acids , vol. 2010 , p. 709521 , Dec. 2010 .

Z. Inonu , S. Keskin and C. Erkey , “An emerging family of hybrid nanomaterials : metal-organic framework/aerogel composites , ” ACS Applied Nano Materials , vol . 1 , no. 11 , pp. 5959 - 5980 , Nov. 2018 .

K. Ganesan , A. Barowski , L. Ratke et al. , “ Influence of hierarchical porous structures on the mechanical properties of cellulose aerogels ,” Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology , vol. 89 , no. 1 , pp. 156 - 165 , 2019 .

A. Lamy-Mendes , R. F. Silva and L . Durães , “ Advances in carbon nanostructure-silica aerogel composites: a review ,” Journal of Materials Chemistry A , vol. 6 , no. 4 , pp. 1340 - 1369 , Dec. 2018 .

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰