The team deals with the controlled synthesis of aerogels for various engineering applications, e.g. modification of air and water filters, substrates for growing transgenic roots, supporting matrices for solar distillation systems. The activities of the Team focus on both practical aspects (synthesis of a product with desired properties using the sol-gel technique) and theoretical aspects (members of the Team have extensive experience in numerical modeling of engineering processes) of aerogel synthesis. The team implements projects financed by the polish National Science Centre, the National Center for Research and Development and the Warsaw University of Technology's own funds. The team cooperates with scientists from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Central Institute for Labor Protection, the University of Debrecen (Hungary) and DLR in Cologne (Germany).

Team staff

Head

Members of the Team

Research infrastructure

• fully equipped laboratory for sol-gel synthesis based on organoalkoxysilanes and biopolymers (extracts, scales, incubators, mixers, homogenizers)
• goniometer Dataphysics OCA25 with the TBU90 module for testing the slip angle and hysteresis of the contact angle
• experimental set for generation and testing of liquid aerosol filtration (PALAS GmbH)

Services offered

• development and synthesis of porous materials adapted to the requirements of the application
• modification of the surface of materials using sol-gel techniques
• modeling of processes occurring in distributed systems, taking into account chemical reactions
• comprehensive analysis of the wettability of materials using the drop/suspended method, determination of the absorbency of materials, hysteresis of the contact angle

Research projects

• Deoiling liquids and gases with airgel modified filter media (NCBR LIDER, 2016–2019)
• Development of hierarchical airgel structures imitating extracellular matrix for 3D culture (2018–2021)
• †Development of a method for testing the kinetics of aerogel condensation and a model description of the process (2020–2021)
• Formulation of highly elastic aerogels on the base of organoalkoxysilanes (IDUB- POB, 2021–2022)†
• Bifunctional airgel platforms for the intensification of naphthoquinone biosynthesis in in vitro cultures of transgenic roots(IDUB-POB, 2021–2022)
• Phase change materials stabilized with organosilicon aerogels for solar distillation systems (NCN Preludium,2022–2024)

Recent publications of the Team

• Borzęcka Nina, Nowak Bartosz, Pakuła Rafał, Robert Przewodzki, Jakub M. Gac,  Diffusion/reaction limited aggregation approach for microstructure evolution and condensation kinetics during synthesis of silica-based alcogels, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2023, vol. 24, nr 3, s.1-24, Npaper no.:1999. DOI:10.3390/ijms24031999
• Nowak Bartosz, Bonora Marta, Winnik Marcin, Jakub M. Gac, An effect of fibrous filters modification with MTMS aerogel structure on oil mist filtration dynamics, Journal of Aerosol Science, 2023, paper no.:106147. DOI:10.1016/j.jaerosci.2023.106147
• Bartosz Nowak, Marta Bonora, Maria Zuzga, Łukasz Werner, Anna Jackiewicz-Zagórska, Jakub M. Gac, MTMS-based aerogel structure deposition on polypropylene fibrous filter – Surface layer effect and distribution control for improvement of oil aerosol separation properties, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Volume 10, Issue 5, 2022, 108410. DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2022.108410
• Bartosz Nowak, Marta Bonora, Jakub M. Gac, Modification of polypropylene fibrous filters with MTMS-based aerogel for improvement of oil mist separation properties – Experimental and theoretical study, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Volume 10, Issue 3, 2022, 107852. DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2022.107852.
• Jakub M. Gac, Numerical Modelling of Formation of Highly Ordered Structured Micro- and Nanoparticles – A Review, KONA Powder and Particle Journal, Volume 42, 2022, 45-61. DOI: 10.14356/kona.2022019
• Nina H. Borzęcka, Bartosz Nowak, Rafał Pakuła, Robert Przewodzki, Jakub M. Gac, Cellular Automata Modeling of Silica Aerogel Condensation Kinetics" Gels Volume 7, Issue 2, 2021, 50. DOI: 10.3390/gels7020050
• Nina H. Borzęcka, Bartosz Nowak, Jakub M. Gac, Tomasz Głaz, Marta Bojarska, Kinetics of MTMS-based aerogel formation by the sol-gel method - experimental results and theoretical description, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Volume 547, 2020, 120310. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2020.120310.