Optimization of Mass and Light Transport in Nanoparticle-Based Titania Aerogels

Aerogels composed of preformed titania nanocrystals exhibit a large surface area, open porosity, and high crystallinity, making these materials appealing for applications in gas-phase photocatalysis. Recent studies on nanoparticle-based titania aerogels have mainly focused on optimizing their composition to improve photocatalytic performance. Little attention has been paid to modification at the microstructural level to control fundamental properties such as gas permeability and light transmittance, although these features are of fundamental importance, especially for photocatalysts of macroscopic size. In this study, we systematically control the porosity and transparency of titania gels and aerogels by adjusting the particle loading and nonsolvent fraction during the gelation step. Mass transport and light transport were assessed by gas permeability and light attenuation measurements, and the results were related to the microstructure determined by gas sorption analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Mass transport through the aerogel network was found to proceed primarily via Knudsen diffusion leading to relatively low permeabilities in the range of 10-5-10-6 m2/s, despite very high porosities of 96-99%. While permeability was found to depend mainly on particle loading, the optical properties are predominantly affected by the amount of nonsolvent during gelation, allowing independent tuning of mass and light transport.

Temperature and Composition Dependent Optical Properties of CdSe/CdS Dot/Rod-Based Aerogel Networks

Employing nanocrystals (NCs) as building blocks of porous aerogel network structures allows the conversion of NC materials into macroscopic solid structures while conserving their unique nanoscopic properties. Understanding the interplay of the network formation and its influence on these properties like size-dependent emission is a key to apply techniques for the fabrication of novel nanocrystal aerogels. In this work, CdSe/CdS dot/rod NCs possessing two different CdSe core sizes were synthesized and converted into porous aerogel network structures. Temperature-dependent steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements were performed to expand the understanding of the optical and electronic properties of these network structures generated from these two different building blocks and correlate their optical with the structural properties. These investigations reveal the influence of network formation and aerogel production on the network-forming nanocrystals. Based on the two investigated NC building blocks and their aerogel networks, mixed network structures with various ratios of the two building blocks were produced and likewise optically characterized. Since the different building blocks show diverse optical response, this technique presents a straightforward way to color-tune the resulting networks simply by choosing the building block ratio in connection with their quantum yield.

Gas-Phase Nitrogen Doping of Monolithic TiO2 Nanoparticle-Based Aerogels for Efficient Visible Light-Driven Photocatalytic H2 Production

The development of visible light-active photocatalysts is essential for increasing the conversion efficiency of solar energy into hydrogen (H₂). Here, we present a facile method for nitrogen doping of monolithic titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticle-based aerogels to activate them for visible light. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at low temperature enables efficient incorporation of nitrogen into preformed TiO₂ aerogels without compromising their advantageous intrinsic characteristics such as large surface area, extensive porosity, and nanoscale properties of the semiconducting building blocks. By balancing the dopant concentration and the defects, the nitridation improves optical absorption and charge separation efficiency. The nitrogen-doped TiO₂ nanoparticle-based aerogels loaded with palladium (Pd) nanoparticles show a significant enhancement in visible light-driven photocatalytic H₂ production (3.1 mmol h^-1 g^-1) with excellent stability over 5 days. With this method, we introduce a powerful tool to tune the properties of nanoparticle-based aerogels after synthesis for a specific application, as exemplified by visible light-driven H₂ production.

Porous Silica Microspheres with Immobilized Titania Nanoparticles for In-Flow Solar-Driven Purification of Wastewater

In this paper, inorganic silica microspheres with interconnected macroporosity are tested as a platform for designing robust and efficient photocatalytic systems for a continuous flow reactor, enabling a low cost and straightforward purification of wastewater through solar-driven photocatalysis. The photocatalytically active microspheres are prepared by wet impregnation of porous silica scaffolds with Trizma-functionalized anatase titania (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs). NPs loading of 22 wt% is obtained in the form of a thin and well-attached layer, covering the external surface of the microspheres as well as the internal surface of the pores. The TiO2 loading leads to an increase of the specific surface area by 26%, without impacting the typically interconnected macroporosity (≈60%) of the microspheres, which is essential for an efficient flow of the pollutant solution during the photocatalytic tests. These are carried out in a liquid medium for the decomposition of methyl orange and paracetamol. In addition to photocatalytic activity under continuous flow, the microspheres offer the advantage that they can be easily removed from the reaction medium, which is an appealing aspect for industrial applications. In this work, the typical issues of TiO2 NPs photocatalysts are circumvented, without the need for elaborate chemistries, and for low availability and expensive raw materials.

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Nanocrystal-based Cryogels with Size-Controlled Mesopores and Macropores

Nanocrystal-based processing has attracted significant interest for the fabrication of highly functional materials with controlled crystallinity and fine porous structures. In this study, we focused on the template-free synthesis of nanocrystal-based materials with size-tailored pores using layered nickel hydroxide intercalated with acrylate anions. Polymerization of the acrylates encouraged interconnection of the nanocrystals and the formation of homogeneous gel networks. Cryogels after freeze-drying had pores with an average diameter from 4.8 nm (mesoscale) to 68.9 nm (macroscale). It was found that the surface characteristics of starting nanocrystals determined the phase separation tendency of interconnected species from the reaction media and resultant porous structures. We believe that the present study can enable the design of template-free nanocrystal-based porous materials.

Control over Structure and Properties in Nanocrystal Aerogels at the Nano-, Micro-, and Macroscale

The assembly of individual colloidal nanocrystals into macroscopic solvogels and aerogels introduced a new exciting type of material into the class of porous architectures. In these so-called nanocrystal gels, the structure and properties can be controlled and fine-tuned to the smallest details. Recently it was shown that by employing nanocrystal building blocks for such gel materials, the interesting nanoscopic properties can be conserved or even expanded to properties that are available neither in the nanocrystals nor in their respective bulk materials. In general, the production of these materials features the wet-chemical synthesis of stable nanocrystal colloids followed by their carefully controlled destabilization to facilitate arrangement of the nanocrystals into highly porous, interconnected networks. By isolation of the synthesis of the discrete building blocks from the assembly process, the electronic structure, optical properties, and structural morphology can be tailored by the myriad of procedures developed in colloidal nanocrystal chemistry. Furthermore, knowledge and control over the structure–property correlation in the resulting gel structures opens up numerous new ways for extended and advanced applications. Consequently, the amount of different materials converted to nanocrystal-based gel structures is rising steadily. Meanwhile the number of methods for assembly initiation is likewise increasing, offering control over the overall network structure and porosity as well as the individual nanocrystal building block connection. The resulting networks can be dried by different methods to obtain highly porous air-filled networks (aerogels) or applied in their wet form (solvogels). By now a number of different applications profiting from the unique advantages of nanocrystal-based gel materials have been realized and exploited in the areas of photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and sensing.

In this Account, we aim to summarize the efforts undertaken in the structuring of nanocrystal-based network materials on different scales, fine-tuning of the individual building blocks on the nanoscale, the network connections on the microscale, and the macroscale structure and shape of the final construct. It is exemplarily demonstrated how cation exchange reactions (at the nanoscale), postgelation modifications on the nanocrystal networks (microscale), and the structuring of the gels via printing techniques (macroscale) endow the resulting nanocrystal gel networks with novel physicochemical, mechanical, and electrocatalytic properties. The methods applied in the more traditional sol–gel chemistry targeting micro- and macroscale structuring are also reviewed, showing their future potential promoting the field of nanocrystal-based aerogels and their applications.

Synthesis of a Crystalline and Transparent Aerogel Composed of Ni-Al Layered Double Hydroxide Nanoparticles through Crystallization from Amorphous Hydrogel

Enormous efforts have been devoted to the development of crystalline aerogels toward heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, ion/molecular absorption, and luminescence. However, properties of aerogels are not fully exploited due to their low content of functional moieties embedded in their solid networks, low crystallinity, and limited chemical compositions. Herein, we develop a one-pot approach based on crystallization from amorphous metal hydroxides modified with a β-diketone ligand, toward crystalline transition-metal hydroxide aerogels. Synthesis of monolithic and crystalline aerogels of layered double hydroxide (LDH) was performed in a Ni-Al system starting from aqueous ethanol solutions of NiCl₂·6H₂O and AlCl₃·6H₂O with acetylacetone (acac) as an organic ligand. Propylene oxide (PO) as an alkalization reagent was added into precursory solutions to yield monolithic wet gels. The successive pH increase induces the formation of a three-dimensional (3-D) solid framework composed of amorphous Al(OH)₃. Then, amphoteric Al(OH)₃ undergoes crystallization into Ni-Al LDH via an acetylacetone-driven dissolution-crystallization of metal hydroxides without destroying the preformed 3-D solid framework. The process allows us to obtain crystalline aerogel monoliths with high porosity and high transparency after supercritical CO₂ drying of wet gels. The present scheme can be expected to synthesize functionalized aerogel composed of crystalline transition-metal oxide/hydroxide nanobuilding blocks (NBBs).

Advanced Design and Synthesis of Composite Photocatalysts for the Remediation of Wastewater: A Review

Serious water pollution and the exhausting of fossil resources have become worldwide urgent issues yet to be solved. Solar energy driving photocatalysis processes based on semiconductor catalysts is considered to be the most promising technique for the remediation of wastewater. However, the relatively low photocatalytic efficiency remains a critical limitation for the practical use of the photocatalysts. To solve this problem, numerous strategies have been developed for the preparation of advanced photocatalysts. Particularly, incorporating a semiconductor with various functional components from atoms to individual semiconductors or metals to form a composite catalyst have become a facile approach for the design of high-efficiency catalysts. Herein, the recent progress in the development of novel photocatalysts for wastewater treatment via various methods in the sight of composite techniques are systematically discussed. Moreover, a brief summary of the current challenges and an outlook for the development of composite photocatalysts in the area of wastewater treatment are provided.

Tailoring Composition and Material Distribution in Multicomponent Cryoaerogels for Application in Photocatalysis

In this article, we demonstrate the fabrication of tailored multicomponent cryoaerogels from colloidal nanoparticles via the cryogelation method. With this method, it is possible to control the amount of components very precisely. Furthermore, the microscopic distribution of the different nanoparticle components in the resulting monolithic structure is shown to be adjustable by simply mixing calculated amounts of colloidal nanoparticle solutions with a suitable surface charge. We focus on titania cryoaerogels due to their potential for optical applications and investigate the properties of synthesized titania-gold cryoaerogels in dependency of the composition. In addition, titania-platinum cryoaerogels were tested for photocatalytic applications such as hydrogen evolution and showed a significant increase in performance and stability compared to their respective colloidal solutions. While showing comparable results for hydrogen evolution with aerogels as reported in literature, the fabrication is much faster and less complex and therefore might enable future industrial application.

Gelation of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystals by polymer-induced depletion attractions

Gelation of colloidal nanocrystals emerged as a strategy to preserve inherent nanoscale properties in multiscale architectures. However, available gelation methods to directly form self-supported nanocrystal networks struggle to reliably control nanoscale optical phenomena such as photoluminescence and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) across nanocrystal systems due to processing variabilities. Here, we report on an alternative gelation method based on physical internanocrystal interactions: short-range depletion attractions balanced by long-range electrostatic repulsions. The latter are established by removing the native organic ligands that passivate tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals while the former are introduced by mixing with small PEG chains. As we incorporate increasing concentrations of PEG, we observe a reentrant phase behavior featuring two favorable gelation windows; the first arises from bridging effects while the second is attributed to depletion attractions according to phase behavior predicted by our unified theoretical model. Our assembled nanocrystals remain discrete within the gel network, based on X-ray scattering and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The infrared optical response of the gels is reflective of both the nanocrystal building blocks and the network architecture, being characteristic of ITO nanocrystals' LSPR with coupling interactions between neighboring nanocrystals.

Electrostatic-Driven Gelation of Colloidal Nanocrystals

The assembly of colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) is a unique strategy to produce porous materials with high crystallinity and unmatched control over structural and chemical parameters. This strategy has been demonstrated mostly for single-component nanomaterials. In the present work, we report the gelation of colloidal NC solutions driven by the electrostatic interaction of oppositely charged NCs. A key step for leading this strategy to success is to produce a stable colloidal solution of the positively charged component. We achieved this goal by functionalizing the NCs with inexpensive and nontoxic amino acids such as glutamine. We demonstrate the combination of positively and negatively charged NCs in proper concentrations to result in gels with a homogeneous distribution of the two compounds. In this way, porous nanocomposites with virtually any combination can be produced. We illustrate this approach by combining positively charged ceria NCs with negatively charged gold NCs to form Au-CeO₂ gels. These gels were dried from supercritical CO₂ to produce highly porous Au-CeO₂ aerogels with specific surface areas of 120 m² g^-1. The formation of a proper interface is confirmed through the evaluation of nanocomposite catalytic activity toward CO oxidation. We further demonstrate the versatility of this strategy to produce porous metal chalcogenide-metal oxide and metal-metal chalcogenide nanocomposites by the examples of PbS-CeO₂ and Au-PbS.

Emerging Hierarchical Aerogels: Self-Assembly of Metal and Semiconductor Nanocrystals

Aerogels assembled from colloidal metal or semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) feature large surface area, ultralow density, and high porosity, thus rendering them attractive in various applications, such as catalysis, sensors, energy storage, and electronic devices. Morphological and structural modification of the aerogel backbones while maintaining the aerogel properties enables a second stage of the aerogel research, which is defined as hierarchical aerogels. Different from the conventional aerogels with nanowire-like backbones, those hierarchical aerogels are generally comprised of at least two levels of architectures, i.e., an interconnected porous structure on the macroscale and a specially designed configuration at local backbones at the nanoscale. This combination "locks in" the inherent properties of the NCs, so that the beneficial genes obtained by nanoengineering are retained in the resulting monolithic hierarchical aerogels. Herein, groundbreaking advances in the design, synthesis, and physicochemical properties of the hierarchical aerogels are reviewed and organized in three sections: i) pure metallic hierarchical aerogels, ii) semiconductor hierarchical aerogels, and iii) metal/semiconductor hybrid hierarchical aerogels. This report aims to define and demonstrate the concept, potential, and challenges of the hierarchical aerogels, thereby providing a perspective on the further development of these materials.

Metal Oxide Aerogels with Controlled Crystallinity and Faceting from the Epoxide-Driven Cross-Linking of Colloidal Nanocrystals

We present a novel method to produce crystalline oxide aerogels which is based on the cross-linking of preformed colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) triggered by propylene oxide (PO). Ceria and titania were used to illustrate this new approach. Ceria and titania colloidal NCs with tuned geometry and crystal facets were produced in solution from the decomposition of a suitable salt in the presence of oleylamine (OAm). The native surface ligands were replaced by amino acids, rendering the NCs colloidally stable in polar solvents. The NC colloidal solution was then gelled by adding PO, which gradually stripped the ligands from the NC surface, triggering a slow NC aggregation. NC-based metal oxide aerogels displayed both high surface areas and excellent crystallinity associated with the crystalline nature of the constituent building blocks, even without any annealing step. Such NC-based metal oxide aerogels showed higher thermal stability compared with aerogels directly produced from ionic precursors using conventional sol-gel chemistry strategies.

Preparation of crystal TiO2 foam with micron channels and mesopores by a freeze-casting method without additives and unidirectional freezing

A novel strategy facilitated by self-assembly of a ligand to prepare crystal TiO₂ foam with micron channels and mesopores.

Low-Density Open Cellular Sponges as Functional Materials

Low-density macroporous sponges with densities less than 100 mg cm^-3 are both a challenge and an opportunity for advanced chemistry and material science. The challenge lies in the precise preparation of the sponges with property combinations that lead to novel applications. Bottom-up and top-down chemical and engineering methods for the preparation of sponges are a major focus of this Review, with an emphasis on carbon and polymer materials. The light weight, sustainability, breathability, special wetting characteristics, large mass transfer, mechanical stability, and large pore volume are typical characteristics of sponges made of advanced materials and could lead to novel applications. Some selected sponge properties and potential applications are discussed.

Colloidal Nanocrystal-Based BaTiO3 Xerogels as Green Bodies: Effect of Drying and Sintering at Low Temperatures on Pore Structure and Microstructures

Although aerogels prepared by the colloidal assembly of nanoparticles are a rapidly emerging class of highly porous and low-density materials, their ambient dried counterparts, namely xerogels, have hardly been explored. Here we report the use of nanoparticle-based BaTiO₃ xerogels as green bodies, which provide a versatile route to ceramic materials under the minimization of organic additives with a significant reduction of the calcination temperature compared to that of conventional powder sintering. The structural changes of the xerogels are investigated during ambient drying by carefully analyzing the microstructure at different drying stages. For this purpose, the shrinkage was arrested by a supercritical drying step under full preservation of the intermediate microstructure, giving unprecedented insight into the structural changes during ambient drying of a nanoparticle-based gel. In a first step, the large macropores shrink because of capillary forces, followed by the collapse of residual mesopores until a dense xerogel is obtained. The whole process is accompanied by a volume shrinkage of 97% and a drop in surface area from 300 to 220 m² g^-1. Finally, the xerogels are sintered, causing another shrinkage of up to 8% with a slight increase in the average pore and crystal sizes. At temperatures higher than 700 °C, an unexpected phase transition to BaTi₂O₅ is observed.

3D assembly of preformed colloidal nanoparticles into gels and aerogels: function-led design

Nanoparticle-based aerogels combine the properties of traditional aerogels with those of nanoparticles, and hold promise for various applications following a function-led design.

Synthesis of aerogels: from molecular routes to 3-dimensional nanoparticle assembly

Colloidal nanocrystals are extensively used as building blocks in nanoscience, and amazing results have been achieved in assembling them into ordered, close-packed structures. But in spite of great efforts, the size of these structures is typically restricted to a few micrometers, and it is very hard to extend them into the macroscopic world. In comparison, aerogels are macroscopic materials, highly porous, disordered, ultralight and with immense surface areas. With these distinctive characteristics, they are entirely contrary to common nanoparticle assemblies such as superlattices or nanocrystal solids, and therefore cover a different range of applications. While aerogels are traditionally synthesized by molecular routes based on aqueous sol-gel chemistry, in the last few years the gelation of nanoparticle dispersions became a viable alternative to improve the crystallinity and to widen the structural, morphological and compositional complexity of aerogels. In this Review, the different approaches to inorganic non-siliceous and non-carbon aerogels are addressed. We start our discussion with wet chemical routes involving molecular precursors, followed by processing methods using nanoparticles as building blocks. A unique feature of many of these routes is the fact that a macroscopic, often monolithic body is produced by pure self-assembly of nanosized colloids without the need for any templates.

Three-Dimensional Assembly of Yttrium Oxide Nanosheets into Luminescent Aerogel Monoliths with Outstanding Adsorption Properties

The preparation of macroscopic materials from two-dimensional nanostructures represents a great challenge. Restacking and random aggregation to dense structures during processing prevents the preservation of the two-dimensional morphology of the nanobuilding blocks in the final body. Here we present a facile solution route to ultrathin, crystalline Y2O3 nanosheets, which can be assembled into a 3D network by a simple centrifugation-induced gelation method. The wet gels are converted into aerogel monoliths of macroscopic dimensions via supercritical drying. The as-prepared, fully crystalline Y2O3 aerogels show high surface areas of up to 445 m(2)/g and a very low density of 0.15 g/cm(3), which is only 3% of the bulk density of Y2O3. By doping and co-doping the Y2O3 nanosheets with Eu(3+) and Tb(3+), we successfully fabricated luminescent aerogel monoliths with tunable color emissions from red to green under UV excitation. Moreover, the as-prepared gels and aerogels exhibit excellent adsorption capacities for organic dyes in water without losing their structural integrity. For methyl blue we measured an unmatched adsorption capacity of 8080 mg/g. Finally, the deposition of gold nanoparticles on the nanosheets gave access to Y2O3-Au nanocomposite aerogels, proving that this approach may be used for the synthesis of catalytically active materials. The broad range of properties including low density, high porosity, and large surface area in combination with tunable photoluminescence makes these Y2O3 aerogels a truly multifunctional material with potential applications in optoelectronics, wastewater treatment, and catalysis.

Assembly of ultrasmall Cu3N nanoparticles into three-dimensional porous monolithic aerogels

We present the assembly of ultrasmall Cu₃N nanoparticles into aerogels with a high surface area and porosity by thermally destabilizing colloidal nanoparticles.

A general method of fabricating flexible spinel-type oxide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite aerogels as advanced anodes for lithium-ion batteries

High-capacity anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), such as spinel-type metal oxides, generally suffer from poor Li(+) and e(-) conductivities. Their drastic crystal structure and volume changes, as a result of the conversion reaction mechanism with Li, severely impede the high-rate and cyclability performance toward their practical application. In this article, we present a general and facile approach to fabricate flexible spinel-type oxide/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite aerogels as binder-free anodes where the spinel nanoparticles (NPs) are integrated in an interconnected rGO network. Benefiting from the hierarchical porosity, conductive network and mechanical stability constructed by interpenetrated rGO layers, and from the pillar effect of NPs in between rGO sheets, the hybrid system synergistically enhances the intrinsic properties of each component, yet is robust and flexible. Consequently, the spinel/rGO composite aerogels demonstrate greatly enhanced rate capability and long-term stability without obvious capacity fading for 1000 cycles at high rates of up to 4.5 A g(-1) in the case of CoFe2O4. This electrode design can successfully be applied to several other spinel ferrites such as MnFe2O4, Fe3O4, NiFe2O4 or Co3O4, all of which lead to excellent electrochemical performances.

Anisotropically structured magnetic aerogel monoliths

Texturing of magnetic ceramics and composites by aligning and fixing of colloidal particles in a magnetic field is a powerful strategy to induce anisotropic chemical, physical and especially mechanical properties into bulk materials. If porosity could be introduced, anisotropically structured magnetic materials would be the perfect supports for magnetic separations in biotechnology or for magnetic field-assisted chemical reactions. Aerogels, combining high porosity with nanoscale structural features, offer an exceptionally large surface area, but they are difficult to magnetically texture. Here we present the preparation of anatase-magnetite aerogel monoliths via the assembly of preformed nanocrystallites. Different approaches are proposed to produce macroscopic bodies with gradient-like magnetic segmentation or with strongly anisotropic magnetic texture.

Mechanisms of oriented attachment of TiO2 nanocrystals in vacuum and humid environments: reactive molecular dynamics

Oriented attachment (OA) of nanocrystals is now widely recognized as a key process in the solution-phase growth of hierarchical nanostructures. However, the microscopic origins of OA remain unclear. We perform molecular dynamics simulations using a recently developed ReaxFF reactive force field to study the aggregation of various titanium dioxide (anatase) nanocrystals in vacuum and humid environments. In vacuum, the nanocrystals merge along their direction of approach, resulting in a polycrystalline material. By contrast, in the presence of water vapor the nanocrystals reorient themselves and aggregate via the OA mechanism to form a single or twinned crystal. They accomplish this by creating a dynamic network of hydrogen bonds between surface hydroxyls and surface oxygens of aggregating nanocrystals. We determine that OA is dominant on surfaces that have the greatest propensity to dissociate water. Our results are consistent with experiment, are likely to be general for aqueous oxide systems, and demonstrate the critical role of solvent in nanocrystal aggregation. This work opens up new possibilities for directing nanocrystal growth to fabricate nanomaterials with desired shapes and sizes.

Au-TiO(2) nanoscale heterodimers synthesis from an ambient spark discharge for efficient photocatalytic and photothermal activity

Ultrafine Au particles incorporating TiO2 heterodimers were synthesized using an ambient heterogeneous spark discharge and the resultant materials were employed both in oxidizing photocatalytically CO gas and killing photothermally cancerous cells. Ti-Au spark configuration was employed to vaporize Ti and Au components into an airflow and finally ultrafine Au particles (∼2 nm in lateral dimension) were incorporated with TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of Au-TiO2 heterodimers (∼38 nm in lateral dimension) with enhanced photocatalytic (in CO oxidation) and photothermal activity (in cancerous cell killing) under visible light. We propose that the localized surface plasmon resonance of ultrafine Au particles on TiO2 supports, induced by the visible light, would promote the adsorption-oxidation of CO and photothermal killing of HeLa cells. The present strategy may be suitable to fabricate other Au-metal oxide nanocomposites for catalytic and biomedical applications.

25th anniversary article: metal oxide particles in materials science: addressing all length scales

The fundamental mission of materials science is the description of matter over all length scales. In this review, we apply this concept to particle research. Based on metal oxides, we show that every size range offers its specific features, and every size range had its era, when it was in the center of the research activities. In the first part of the review, we discuss on three metal oxides as examples, how and why the research focus changed its targeted size regime from the micrometer to the nanometer scale and back to the macroscopic world. Next, we present the distinct advantages of using nanoparticles over micrometer-sized particles in selected devices and we point out how such a shift in the size regime opens up new research directions. Finally, we exemplify the methods to introduce nanoparticles into macroscopic objects to make functional ceramics.