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Diamond-doped silica aerogel for solar geoengineering

Lookup NU author(s): Jovana Vukajlović, Jiabin Wang, Professor Lidija Siller

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Even though aerosol injection into stratosphere is one of the most promising solar geoengineering techniques, sulfate aerosols, which are suggested for such an application, show significant drawbacks such as infra-red (IR) absorption and ozone degradation. The development of new materials for such application that would exhibit substantial up-scattering, with non-IR absorption to allow a cooling effect are needed. Here, a novel composite material comprised of diamonds dispersed in a silica aerogel network is investigated and compared to pure silica aerogel. Silica aerogels are ultralight, highly porous, transparent and can host particles, while fulfilling particle size limitation in terms of potential health risks for humans during respiration. Morphology of both the diamonds and the silica aerogels composites has been studied. The diffuse reflectance of the diamond powders, pure silica aerogels, and the diamond-doped silica aerogels have been measured for comparison. Our experimental work assesses the proposed concept of materials, including discussion and recommendations for the improvements of the synthetized materials. The obtained results are promising and could stimulate further in-depth studies in similar materials with a potential for applications in solar geoengineering.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Vukajlovic J, Wang J, Forbes I, Siller L

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Diamond and Related Materials

Year: 2021

Volume: 117

Pages: 108474

Print publication date: 02/08/2021

Online publication date: 27/05/2021

Acceptance date: 01/05/2021

Date deposited: 08/06/2021

ISSN (print): 0925-9635

Publisher: Elsevier

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diamond.2021.108474

DOI: 10.1016/j.diamond.2021.108474


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
EP/L015315/1
EPSRC

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