What are Aerogels?

A group of researchers from Pune have developed a novel hybrid aerogel capable of easily extracting gold from electronic waste.

Aerogels

About Aerogel: 

  • Aerogels are among the lightest solid materials.
  • They are created by combining a polymer with a solvent to form a gel, and then removing the liquid from the gel and replacing it with air.
  • Properties: They are extremely porous and very low in density and they offer advantages like adjustable surface chemistry
  • They are also known as ‘solid air’ or ‘frozen smoke’ are excellent adsorbents (a solid substance used to remove contaminants) and are incredibly lightweight solids composed mostly of air.
  • Aerogels are most preferred in environment and oil spill clean up, for insulation purposes
Table of Contents

Key facts about the newly developed Hybrid Aerogel

  • Researchers have designed and synthesised aerogel: the sponge-like absorbents, light in weight and porous synthetic materials for this purpose.
  • The aerogel’s unique structural composition was treated with iron nitrate salts and maintained at room temperature for about two to five minutes.
  • This specially designed aerogel was found to be effective in extracting and retrieving upto 99 per cent of gold ions from the e-waste.
  • In daylight, the hybrid aerogel could extract 1689mg/gram of e-waste and 2349mg / gram under blue light.
  • As there were dual processes involved, that of adsorption and reduction — the quality of the recovered gold was reasonably pure thereby reducing the need for further purifying processes.

Q1: What is Porosity?

The porosity or void fraction is a measurement of the void or empty spaces of a material and is defined as the ratio between the volume of voids and the total volume.

News: IE

Latest UPSC Civil Services Update

Last updated on Dec 26, 2024

UPSC Civil Services 2024 Interview Schedule has been released on 21st December 2024. As per the schedule, the UPSC CSE interviews will be held from January 7 to April 17, 2025.

→ The UPSC Civil Services Notification 2024 was released for 1056 vacancies.

→ Candidates who have completed graduation are eligible for the exam.

→ The candidates are required to go through a 3 stage selection process - Prelims, Main and Interview.

→ Go through the UPSC Previous Year Papers and UPSC Civil Services Test Series to enhance your preparation.

Tags: aerogel Prelims Pointers upsc current affairs upsc prelims current affairs

Rahul Mourya
Hey beautiful people, my name is Rahul Mourya and I’m from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. I’m a full-time blogger, Developer, WordPress & SEO Expert.
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now
Perks & Benefits Offered
Perks & Benefits Offered
₹599
Enroll Now