CarbonAerogels and Monoliths: Control of Porosityand Nanoarchitecture via Sol–Gel routes.

Thesynthesis of carbon aerogels by sol–gel like processes,i.e., hard templating, phase demixing, hydrothermal carbonizationtechniques, as well as by ionothermal syntheses are reviewed. In allthese techniques, we start with a liquid reaction solution, wherecontrolledby experimental parameters and structure-directing additivesaporous carbon material with high conductivity, high pore volume, andhigh specific surface area is obtained. Many of these synthesis approachesgive the resulting material in simple, rather sustainable processes,and the structures can be employed directly after isolation withoutfurther activation processes. The article will discuss also some applications,such as battery and electrode materials as well as catalyst supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]