Advance and perspective of carbon-based aerogels and their composites

Carbon-based aerogels and their composites, composed of nanoparticles forming continuous three-dimensional nanoporous networks, exhibit high porosity and tunable surface areas, along with outstanding thermal, optical, electrical, catalytic and adsorption properties. Consequently, they have promising development prospects and are anticipated to become the next generation of new high-performance aerogels. First, this article introduces the common preparation methods for carbon-based aerogels and their composites, analyzes how these different methods affect the structure and properties of the materials. Subsequently, it expounds on the categorization and characteristics of carbon-based aerogels and their composites, further elaborating on the advantages and disadvantages of various materials. Afterwards, it summarizes their practical applications in new energy systems, aerospace, building energy conservation, biological medicine, and environmental protection. Finally, this article puts forward the existing challenges faced by carbon-based aerogels and their composites: To achieve the requirements of economic, environmental protection and efficient preparation; To meet the usage demands in different application fields. Simultaneously, it points out the future research directions of them: To simplify the process steps and design the environmental-friendly, recyclable experimental system; To optimize the preparation process and develop carbon-based aerogel materials which could adapt to specific application functions; To create advanced carbon-based aerogels with high-performances and expand their applications into novel domains, combining Artificial Intelligence technologies with systematic material design and application exploration.