Qiang Wei1, Dali Yang2, Zhijun Lin1, Hongwu Xu3, and Yusheng Zhao4. (1) LANSCE-LC, Los Alamos National Laboratory, los Alamos, NM 87545, (2) Mst - 7, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, (3) Ees-6, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 87545, (4) Lansce-12, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
New highly porous aerogel materials based on the coordination of metal ions and organic ligands are developed and characterized by PXRD, BET and TEM analysis. The new metal-organic aerogels (MOAs) have typical specific BET surface area above 1000m2/g with the thermal stability up to 250oC, which is generally larger than the normal silica based or carbon aerogels. The intrinsic chemical compositions of meal-organic aerogel provide itself the advantages of easy synthesis, feasible modification and functionalization on the properties and structures. One example of using such aerogel as reaction matrix to synthesis metal-organic frameworks, such as HKUST-1, is discussed. It generates size-homogenized crystals of HKUST-1 around 20ìm. This new kind of porous materials gives great potentials in the catalysis, adsorption/separation and sensors applications.