Abstract

Aerogels are a class of advanced materials having the lowest density with extraordinary characteristics of high surface area, extreme porosity, lowest thermal conductivity, and tunable surface chemistry. Aerogels of silica, alumina, carbon, metals, metal oxides, clay, cellulose, gelatin, chitosan, synthetic polymers and many others have attracted much interest for different potential applications. Several attempts have been made to improve the characteristics and performance efficiency of the aerogels. One of those is to fabricate composite aerogels to be used in several applications. In designing composite aerogels for biomedical and environmental purposes, the nature of the ingredient materials along with their net efficiency and cost are important to be considered. In this regard, various compositions of composite aerogels have been explored by researchers to make them suitable for use in these applications. In the present study, an attempt has been made to briefly summarize various studies of composite aerogels for biomedical and environmental applications.

Keywords: Composite aerogels, importance, biomedical, environmental, applications, literature survey.