Colloidal Nanocrystal-Based Gels and Aerogels: Material Aspects and Application Perspectives

Gels and aerogels manufactured from a variety of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles available in colloidal solutions have recently proven to provide an opportunity to marry the nanoscale world with that of materials of macro dimensions that can be easily manipulated and processed while maintaining the nanoscale properties. The aerogel materials may be further processed in order to achieve improvements in their properties relevant to applications in optical sensing, photovoltaics, LEDs, nonlinear optics, thermoelectrics, and catalysis. This Perspective reviews the young field, lines out some of the synthetical challenges, and touches on application-related aspects.