Preparation Method of Monolithic Copper Oxide Aerogels

The transition metal based aerogels are available for target materials of ICF. The monolithic copper oxide aerogels were prepared from copper chloride, propylene oxide and polyacrylic acid. Firstly, by using of cupric chloride solution as precursor, polyacrylic acid as dispersant and propylene oxide as accelerator, and selecting suitable mould, the columnar copper-based alcogel was made under the sol-gel process. And the proper ratio of reactants was got via the experiment. Then the columnar light-green monolithic aerogel sample was obtained by the process of aging and supercritical drying. SEM studies indicate that the sample has a network porous structure composed of uniform nano-scale spherical particles. In term of IR, XRD and XRF, it indicates that the crystal part of the aerogel is mostly orthorhombic copper chloride hydroxide and the amorphous part is aquo cupric hydroxide.