ABSTRACT
Aerogels are promising materials due to their excellent properties such as wide
surface area, low thermal conductivity, low density and high porosity, so they are
known as eminent candidate for future material technology. These characteristics can
be utilized for various purpose such as catalyst, ion exchange resin, filter, drug agent,
heat, sound insulator and so on. However, aerogels are too fragile and brittle due to
their low mechanical strength, so there are some difficulties in industrial and
commercial applications. To overcome the weaknesses of aerogels, organicinorganic
composite aerogels were presented as one of the solution to improve
mechanical characteristics of aerogels. The present paper focuses on the
complementary enhancement of mechanical characteristics using functional,
mechanically strong organic materials in the inorganic-based aerogels. In this paper,
some studies of organic-inorganic composite aerogels are introduced and an
improvement of aerogel characteristics is provided.