Metal-plasma treated aerogel materials with nano-particle decoration for surface functionalization via electrical explosion method

Aerogels are environmentally friendly materials with high specific surface area and high adsorption. However, pure aerogels are challenging to meet the requirements of mechanical properties, thermal insulation and hydrophobicity. Therefore, the surface functionalization of aerogel materials is necessary. Electrical explosion is a controllable, convenient and low-cost plasma generation method that can be used for surface modification of nanoparticles (NPs). The electrical parameters and spatial–temporal resolved images were recorded to analyze the behaviors of SiO₂ aerogel with different metal plasmas (Cu wire and W wire). By characterizing the explosive products with SEM/EDS/TEM, it was found that the Cu/W NPs produced by the electrical explosion were uniformly deposited and embedded in the SiO₂ aerogel. The particle size of W NPs was larger than that of Cu NPs, with average particle sizes of 212.7 nm and 31.6 nm, respectively. The lattice structure and chemical composition of the products were analyzed by XRD and XPS. The XRD results confirmed that the newly emerged diffraction peaks correspond to specific crystal faces of Cu and W, respectively. In addition, the XPS results showed that only a tiny amount of copper existed in the form of CuO, indicating that the product modified by the electrical explosion method was purer. In order to study the applicability of electrical explosion, experiments were also designed to explore the effect of Cu NPs deposition on graphene aerogels. The results showed that it also achieved uniform doping and modification effects well. This technology could be favorable in fabricating and modifying energy-related materials that require specific functions in the future.