Cellulose aerogels: Preparation, characterization and applications

Cellulose is one of the most abundant biopolymer in nature. It is a biopolymer consisting of D-glucose repeating units. The degree of polymerization can vary from 300 to 15,000 depending on the source of cellulose. Cellulose is stable, nontoxic, biodegradable and inexpensive. Due to its high molecular weight and stable crystalline structure, cellulose is very difficult to dissolve in most common solvents. The major sources of cellulose are wood and cotton. Wood cellulose has been primarily used to make paper and regenerated rayon and Tencel, while cotton cellulose has been exclusively used for textiles. Cellulose is attracting special attention as a precursor for the preparation of new materials. Recently, research has been focused on relatively new emerging materials prepared from cellulose. These materials, called aerogels, have high surface area, porous structure, and light weight. A review of the preparation, characterization and applications of these materials is presented in this chapter.