Gas templating of resorcinol-formaldehyde xerogels

Gas templating of gels is a novel route in the know-how technology of templating porous gels. This technology depends basically on infusing certain gases into the media of sol-gel reaction upon the gelation process. The templated products have noticeable changes that depend on the synthesis conditions and the type of gas used. Furthermore, the gases used for templating are separated completely by natural means; and thus, the templated gels are not polluted with templating agents, which makes them friendlier to the environment. Resorcinol and formaldehyde precursors were used herein as a representative example for making and designing gas-templated resorcinol and formaldehyde-xerogels (GT-RFXs). It is found that different infused gases have noticeable changes on the characteristics and performances of the formed GT-RFXs.This publication was made possible by the support of the NPRP awards [ NPRP 08-014-2-003 and NPRP-8-001-2-001 ] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). Technical support from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Central Laboratory Unit at Qatar University is also acknowledged. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu