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Nanoelectronics is an essential technology for down-scaling beyond the limit of silicon-based electronics. Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT) are semiconducting components that exhibit a large variety of properties that make them usable for sensing, telecommunication, or computational tasks. Due to their high surface to volume ratio, carbon nanotubes are strongly affected by molecular adsorptions, and almost all properties depend on surface adsorption. SWNT with smaller diameters (0.7-0.9nm) show a stronger sensitivity to surface effects. An optimized synthesis route was developed to produce these nanotubes directly. They were produced with a clean surface, high quality, and large lengths of 2 μ m. The results complement previous studies on larger diameters (0.9-1.4nm). They allow performing statistically significant assumptions for a perfect nanotube, which is selected from a subset of nanotubes with good emission intensity, and high mechanical durability. The adsorption of molecules on the surface of carbon nanotubes influences the motion and binding strength of chargeseparated states in this system. To gain insight into the adsorption processes on the surface with a minimum of concurrent overlapping effects, a microscopic setup, and a measurement technique were developed. The system was estimated to exhibit excellent properties like long exciton diffusion lengths (>350nm), and big exciton sizes (8.5(5)nm), which was substantiated by a simulation. We studied the adsorption processes at the surface of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes for molecules in the gas phase, solvent molecules, and surfactant molecules. The experiments were all carried out on suspended individualized carbon nanotubes on a silicon wafer substrate. The experiments in the gas-phase showed that the excitonic emission energy and intensity experiences a rapid blue shift during observation. This shift was associated with the spontaneous desorption of large clusters of gaseous molecules caused by laser heat up. The measurement of this desorption was essential for creating a reference to an initially clean surface and allows us to perform a comparison with previous measurements on this topic. Furthermore, the adsorption of hydrogen on the nanotube surface at high temperatures was investigated. It was found that a new emission mode arises slightly red-shifted to the excitonic emission in these systems. The new signal is almost equally strong as the main excitonic peak and was associated with the brightening of dark excitons at sp3-defects through a K-phonon assisted pathway. The finding is useful for the direct synthesis of spintronic devices as these systems are known to act as single-photon emitters. The suspended nanotubes were further studied to estimate the effect of solvent adsorption on the excitonic states during nanotube dispersion for each nanotube individually. A significant quantum yield loss is observable for hexane and acetonitrile, while the emission intensity was found to be the strongest in toluene. The reference to a clean surface allowed us to estimate the exact influence of the dielectric environment of adsorbing solvents on the excitonic emission energy. Solvent adsorption was found to lead to an energy shift that is almost twice as high as suggested in previous studies. The amount of this energy shift, however, was comparably similar for all solvents, which suggests that the influence of the distinct dielectric constant in the outer environment less significantly influences the energy shift than previously thought. An interesting phenomenon was found when using acetonitrile as a solvent, which leads to greatly enhanced emission properties. The emission is more than twice as high as in the same air-suspended nanotubes, which suggests a process that depends on the laser intensity. In this study, it was reasonably explained how an energy down-conversion is possible through the coupling of the excitonic states with solvent vibrations. The strength of this coupling, however, also suggests adsorptions to the inside of the tubular nanotube structure leading to a coupled vibration of linear acetonitrile molecules that are adsorbed to the inner surface. The findings are important for the field of nanofluidics and provide an excellent system for efficient energy down-conversion in the transmission window of biological tissue. Having separated the pure effect of solvent adsorption allowed us to study the undisturbed molecular adsorption of polymers in these systems. The addition of polyfluorene polymer leads to a slow but stepwise intensity increase. The intensity increase is overlapping with a concurrent process that leads to an intensity decrease. Unfortunately, observing the stepwise process has a low spacial resolution of only 100-250nm, which is in the range of the exciton diffusion length in these systems and hinders detailed analysis. The two competing and overlapping processes processes are considered to originate from slow π-stacking and fast side-chain binding. Insights into this process are essential for selecting suitably formed polymers. However, the findings also emphasize the importance of solvent selection during nanotube dispersion since solvent effects were proven to be far more critical on the quantum yield in these systems. These measurements can shed light on the ongoing debate on polymers adsorption during nanotube individualization and allow us to direct the discussion more towards the selection of suitable solvents. This work provides fundamental insights into the adsorption of various molecules on the surface of individually observed suspended Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. It allows observing the adsorption of individual molecules below the optical limit in the solid, liquid, and gas phases. Nanotubes are able to act as sensing material for detecting changes in their direct surrounding. These fundamental findings are also crucial for increasing the quantum yield of solvent-dispersed nanotubes. They can provide better light-harvesting systems for microscopy in biological tissue and set the base for a more efficient telecommunication infrastructure with nano-scale spintronics devices and lasing components. The newly discovered solvent alignment in the nanotube surrounding can potentially also be used for supercapacitors that are needed for caching the calculation results in computational devices that use polymer wrapped nanotubes as transistors. Although fundamental, these studies develop a strategy to enlighten this room that is barely only visible at the bottom of the nano-scale.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden magnetische Kompositpartikel für den Einsatz in Flüssigkeiten entwickelt. Der Aufbau der Partikel erfolgte dabei modular, sodass eine Anpassung an verschiedene Einsatzmöglichkeiten realisierbar sein sollte. Die gezeigten Arbeiten bauen auf Partikeln bestehend aus magnetischen Nanopartikeln eingebettet in eine Silica-Matrix als Trägerpartikel auf, welche im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit weiterentwickelt wurden. Der Schwerpunkt lag dabei auf der Entwicklung eines Adsorbermaterials für Phosphat als Funktionalisierung für die magnetischen Trägerpartikel, welches für den Einsatz der Entfernung von Phosphat aus kommunalem Abwasser geeignet sein sollte, sowie dessen Einsatz im Labor- und Technikumsmaßstab. Besonderes Augenmerk lag auf der umfassenden Charakterisierung des entwickelten Matrerials sowie der Aufklärung des Wirkmechanismus bei der Phosphatadsorption. Ein weiterer Teil der Arbeit beschäftigte sich mit der Steigerung der Magnetisierung des magnetischen Anteils der Partikel für eine verbesserte magnetische Abtrennung. Um die vielseitige Einsetzbarkeit der magnetischen Trägerpartikel zu demonstrieren, wurden abschließend weitere Funktionalisierungen für diese entwickelt und deren Anwendbarkeit grundlegend getestet. So wurde zum einen eine Modifizierung mit Komplexverbindungen und Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF) realisiert mit dem möglichen Einsatzgebiet der Wasserdetektion in organischen Lösemitteln. Zum anderen wurde eine Beschichtung mit Kohlenstoff durchgeführt und die Entfernung von organischen Farbstoffmolekülen aus Wasser untersucht.
The goal of this work is to improve the understanding of adsorption-induced deformation in nanoporous (and in particular microporous) materials in order to explore its potential for material characterization and provide guidelines for related technical applications such as adsorption-driven actuation. For this purpose this work combines in-situ dilatometry measurements with in-depth modeling of the obtained adsorption-induced strains. A major advantage with respect to previous studies is the combination of the dilatometric setup and a commercial sorption instrument resulting in high quality adsorption and strain isotherms. The considered model materials are (activated and thermally annealed) carbon xerogels, a sintered silica aerogel, a sintered hierarchical structured porous silica and binderless zeolites of type LTA and FAU; this selection covers micro-, meso- and macroporous as well as ordered and disordered model materials.
All sample materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, gas adsorption and sound velocity measurements. In-situ dilatometry measurements on mesoporous model materials were performed for the adsorption of N2 at 77 K, while microporous model materials were also investigated for CO2 adsorption at 273 K, Ar adsorption at 77 K and H2O adsorption at 298 K. Within this work the available in-situ dilatometry setup was revised to improve resolution and reproducibility of measurements of small strains at low relative pressures, which are of particular relevance for microporous materials.
The obtained experimental adsorption and strain isotherms of the hierarchical structured porous silica and a micro-macroporous carbon xerogel were quantitatively analyzed based on the adsorption stress model; this approach, originally proposed by Ravikovitch and Neimark, was extended for anisotropic pore geometries within this work. While the adsorption in silica mesopores could be well described by the classical and analytical theory of Derjaguin, Broekhoff and de Boer, the adsorption in carbon micropores required for comprehensive nonlocal density functional theory calculations. To connect adsorption-induced stresses and strains, furthermore mechanical models for the respective model materials were derived. The resulting theoretical framework of adsorption, adsorption stress and mechanical model was applied to the experimental data yielding structural and mechanical information about the model materials investigated, i.e., pore size or pore size distribution, respectively, and mechanical moduli of the porous matrix and the nonporous solid skeleton. The derived structural and mechanical properties of the model materials were found to be consistent with independent measurements and/or literature values. Noteworthy, the proposed extension of the adsorption stress model proved to be crucial for the correct description of the experimental data.
Furthermore, it could be shown that the adsorption-induced deformation of disordered mesoporous aero-/xerogel structures follows qualitatively the same mechanisms obtained for the ordered hierarchical structured porous silica. However, respective quantitative modeling proved to be challenging due to the ill-shaped pore geometry of aero-/xerogels; good agreement between model and experiment could only be achieved for the filled pore regime of the adsorption isotherm and the relative pressure range of monolayer formation. In the intermediate regime of multilayer formation a more complex model than the one proposed here is required to correctly describe stress related to the curved adsorbate-adsorptive interface. Notably, for micro-mesoporous carbon xerogels it could be shown that micro- and mesopore related strain mechanisms superimpose one another.
The strain isotherms of the zeolites were only qualitatively evaluated. The result for the FAU type zeolite is in good agreement with other experiments reported in literature and the theoretical understanding derived from the adsorption stress model. On the contrary, the strain isotherm of the LTA type zeolite is rather exceptional as it shows monotonic expansion over the whole relative pressure range. Qualitatively this type of strain isotherm can also be explained by the adsorption stress model, but a respective quantitative analysis is beyond the scope of this work.
In summary, the analysis of the model materials' adsorption-induced strains proved to be a suitable tool to obtain information on their structural and mechanical properties including the stiffness of the nonporous solid skeleton. Investigations on the carbon xerogels modified by activation and thermal annealing revealed that adsorption-induced deformation is particularly suited to analyze even small changes of carbon micropore structures.
Zur Charakterisierung der Wechselwirkungen zwischen organischen Dispergiermitteln und nanoskaligen Oberflächen stellen Komplexe aus Kohlenstoffnanoröhren und (Bio-)Polymeren aufgrund der großen Oberfläche der Nanoröhren und der kommerziellen Verfügbarkeit fluoreszenzmarkierter DNA-Oligomere unterschiedlicher Länge sowie intrinsisch fluoreszierender Polymere ein vielversprechendes Modellsystem dar. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation wurden verschiedene Methoden evaluiert, um die Stabilität derartiger Komplexe zu untersuchen und dadurch Rückschlüsse auf das Adsorptionsverhalten der (Bio-)Polymere zu ziehen. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass das publizierte helikale Adsorptionsmodell der DNA auf Kohlenstoffnanoröhren die Resultate der durchgeführten Experimente nur unzureichend beschreiben kann und stattdessen andere Adsorptionskonformationen in Erwägung gezogen werden müssen.
This thesis concerned the quantification of cell adhesion molecules (CAM) in and on thin hydrogel films as surface modification of biomaterials. The established and well characterized, per se inert NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) hydrogel system which allows the easy and reproducible bioactivation with peptides was used as basis for this thesis. Two methods can be used to functionalize the coatings. Ligands can either be mixed into the prepolymer solution in prior to layer formation (mix-in method), or freshly prepared coatings can be incubated with ligand solution (incubation method). Divided into three major parts, the first part of the thesis dealt with the concentration of ligands in the bulk hydrogel, whereas the second part of the thesis focused on the surface sensitive quantification of CAMs at the biointerface. The results were correlated with cell adhesion kinetics. The third part of this thesis investigated the biochemical and the structural mimicry of the extracellular matrix (ECM). ECM proteins were presented via sugar-lectin mediated binding and cell behavior on these surfaces was analyzed. Cell behavior on three-dimensional fibers with identical surface chemistry as the coatings in the previous sections of the thesis was analyzed and correlated with the amount of peptide used for bioactivation. Overall, the main question of this work was ‘How much?’ regarding maximal as well as optimal ligand concentrations for controlled cell-hydrogel interactions. The focus in the first practical part of this thesis was to analyze the amount of ligands in NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) hydrogels using classical quantification methods. Coatings in 96-well plates as well as on glass were functionalized with GRGDS and 125I-YRGDS for radioisotopic detection (Chapter 3). Using the incubation method for functionalization, a maximal ligand binding using peptide concentrations of 600 µg/mL could be determined. When functionalization was introduced via the mix-in method, a clear tendency for higher ligand concentrations with increasing ligand to prepolymer ratio was observed, but no maximal ligand binding could be detected with a ligand to prepolymer ratio of 2/1 being the highest ratio investigated. This ratio of 2/1 was not exceeded to ensure that complete crosslinking of the hydrogel was not affected. In Chapter 4, a fluorinated amino acid and an iodinated peptide were immobilized to the hydrogels using the mix-in method and were detected by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). In these measurements, maximal ligand binding was detected for a ligand to prepolymer ratio of 1/1. Higher ligand to prepolymer ratios did not result in any significant increase in ligand concentrations in the surface near regions of the crosslinked hydrogels. To address the question of how many ligands were actually accessible for cell interaction at the interface, surface sensitive quantification methods were applied in the second part of this thesis. For the quantification with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface acoustic wave technology (SAW) (Chapter 5), the hydrogel coating procedure needed to be transferred onto cystamine functionalized gold surfaces. Characterization with ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed inhomogeneous cystamine binding to the activated surfaces, which resulted in inhomogeneous coatings. Nevertheless, it could be shown that SPR as well as SAW were suitable methods for the surface sensitive quantification of the ligand concentration on NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) hydrogels. Non-functionalized coatings resisted non-specific serum as well as streptavidin (SA) adsorption. Coatings functionalized with biocytin and GRGDSK-biotin introduced specific SA binding that was dependent on the biotin concentration at the surface. Additionally, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and enzyme linked lectin assay (ELLA) (Chapter 6) were applied to coatings in 96-well plates and on glass. Coatings were functionalized with the model molecule biocytin, the biotinylated peptide GRGDSK-biotin, the ECM protein fibronectin (FN), as well as the carbohydrates N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc). All ligands could be successfully detected with antibodies or SA via ELISA or ELLA. Maximal GRGDSK-biotin binding to the hydrogel coatings on glass was achieved at a peptide to prepolymer ratio of 1/5, which was used as reference value in Chapter 8. Last but not least, cell adhesion (Chapter 7) was quantified depending on the GRGDS concentration on hydrogel coatings on glass. Maximal adhesion of primary human dermal fibroblast (HDF) was observed at GRGDS to prepolymer ratios of 1/5, when adherent cells were counted on life cell images. Quantification of adherent cells using the CASY® cell counter revealed maximal HDF adhesion at molar ligand to prepolymer ratios of 1/2. However, cell vitality detected by intracellular enzyme activities was not dependent on the GRGDS concentration. Cells which managed to adhere were vital regardless of the amount of ligands present. Additionally, adhesion of fibroblasts from the murine cell line NIH L929 was analyzed by counting on life cell images. These cells, being much smaller than the HDF cells, needed higher GRGDS to prepolymer ratios (2/1) for proper cell adhesion. All quantification methods applied to analyze hydrogels which were functionalized by the mix-in method in Chapter 3, 4, 6 and 7, were compared in Chapter 8. Radiodetection gave information about the ligand concentrations throughout the whole hydrogel and no maximal amount of ligands could be detected when increasing the peptide to prepolymer ratio. In contrast, XPS and TOF-SIMS which only penetrated the surface near regions of the coating, a maximal ligand binding to the hydrogel was detected for 1/1 ratios. SPR and SAW were not included in this comparison, as the coatings on gold need to be optimized first. The two surface sensitive quantification methods (ELISA and HDF adhesion) could give information about the quantity of peptide which was sterically available for SA or cell binding. With these methods, maximal SA and cell binding was detected at ratios of 1/5. These results underline the importance of carefully compare the different methods. Beside ligand quantification on hydrogels, the third part of this thesis was concerned with the biochemical and structural mimicry of the ECM by advanced ECM engineering to design biomimetic biomaterials that are better accepted by cells and tissue. The subject of Chapter 9 was the biomimetic and flexible presentation of the ECM protein FN. FN was attached via sugar-lectin mediated binding to NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) hydrogels. The build-up of the covalently immobilized sugar poly-N-acetyllactosamine (polyLacNAc), the subsequent non-covalent binding of the fungal galectin His6CGL2, and FN could be elegantly proven by fluorescent staining on coatings which were functionalized with the sugar by micro contact printing (MCP). Further experiments were carried out on build-ups, where polyLacNAc was immobilized on the hydrogel by incubation. Optimal parameters for the layer build-up were determined by ELLA/ELISA. Only the complete build-up induced proper adhesion of HDFs. Compared to tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS), cells adhered and spread faster on the biomimetic surfaces. The flexible presentation of FN allowed HDFs to rearrange homogenously immobilized FN into fibrillar structures, which seemed not to be possible when FN was adsorbed on glass or covalently bound directly to the hydrogel coatings. This new approach of a flexible and biomimetic presentation of an ECM protein allows new ways to design biomaterials with best possible cell-material interactions. The work described in Chapter 10 focused on the structural mimicry of the fibrous ECM structures by electrospinning of synthetic, bioactive, and degradable fibers. Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) were electrospun out of one solution in an easy one-step preparation resulting in fibers with an ultrathin inert hydrogel layer at the surface. By adding GRGDS to the solution prior to electrospinning, specifically interacting fibers could be obtained. In comparison to PLGA, the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) could be reduced by 99.2%. As a control, the non-active peptide GRGES was immobilized to the fiber. These fibers did not allow cell adhesion, showing that the integrity of the hydrogel coated fibers was not affected by the immobilization of peptides. HDF adhesion was obtained by functionalization with GRGDS, leading to the adhesion, spreading, and proliferation of HDFs. Also mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) could adhere to GRGDS functionalized fibers. Additionally, for ligand quantification, the ELISA technique was successfully transferred to fiber substrates. To highlight the potential of the approaches for the biochemical and structural mimicry of the ECM, the sugar polyLacNAc was immobilized on the PLGA/sP(EO-stat-PO) fibers followed by the subsequent layer build-up with His6CGL2 and FN. These fibers triggered HDF adhesion.
In dieser Arbeit wurden methodenübergreifend die Adsorbatsysteme CuPc/Ag(111), CuPc/Au(111), CuPc/Cu(111), H2Pc/Ag(111) und TiOPc/Ag(111) untersucht und detailliert charakterisiert. Der Schwerpunkt der Experimente lag in der Bestimmung der lateralen geometrischen Strukturen mit hochauflösender Elektronenbeugung (SPA-LEED) und Rastertunnelmikroskopie (STM), sowie der Adsorptionshöhen mit der Methode der stehenden Röntgenwellenfeldern (NIXSW). Hochauflösende Elektronenenergieverlustspektroskopie (HREELS) wurde verwendet, um die vibronische Struktur und den dynamischen Ladungstransfer an der Grenzfläche zu charakterisieren. Die elektronische Struktur und der Ladungstransfer in die Moleküle wurde mit ultraviolett Photoelektronenspektroskopie (UPS) gemessen. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit betreffen den Zusammenhang zwischen Adsorbat-Substrat Wechselwirkung und der Adsorbat-Adsorbat Wechselwirkung von Phthalocyaninen im Submonolagenbereich.
Hochporöse Kohlenstoffaerogele, die über den Sol-Gel-Prozeß auf der Basis von Resorzin und Formaldehyd hergestellt werden, sind Werkstoffe mit beeindruckenden physikalischen Eigenschaften. Leider werden bisher nur geringe Mengen an Kohlenstoffaerogelen produziert und aus Kostengründen auf günstigere Materialien mit vergleichsweise schlechteren Eigenschaften zurückgegriffen. Um diesen Nachteil zu nivellieren lag die Motivation der vorliegenden Arbeit in der Entwicklung neuer Syntheserouten für Kohlenstoffmaterialien mit nanoskaliger Morphologie, wobei insbesondere auf kostengünstige Edukte und/oder einfache Prozessierung zurückgegriffen werden sollte. Als in Frage kommende Eduktsysteme wurden Zucker, sowie Hydroxybenzol-Formaldehyd-Derivate ausgewählt. Die hergestellten Kohlenstoffe wurden hauptsächlich mit Elektronenmikroskopie, Gassorption und Röntgenkleinwinkelstreuung (SAXS) charakterisiert. Um Fehlinterpretationen der experimentellen Daten für das neue Materialsystem zu vermeiden, war ein umfangreiches Wissen zu den Charakterisierungsmethoden und den diesen zugrundeliegenden physikalischen Prinzipien notwendig. Kohlenstoffpulver basierend auf sphärischen Resorzin-Formaldehyd Suspensionen und Sedimenten bilden eine völlig neue Möglichkeit zur Erzeugung von Kohlenstoffnanokugeln. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde deshalb systematisch der Bereich der Syntheseparameter im RF-System zu den nicht-monolithischen Parametersätzen hin vervollständigt. Anhand der bestimmten Daten konnte diese Stoffklasse umfassend und detailliert charakterisiert und interpretiert werden. Die Partikelgröße hängt im Wesentlichen von der Katalysatorkonzentration und in geringerem Maße von der Eduktmenge in der Startlösung ab. Die ermittelte untere Grenze der Partikelgröße aus stabilen kolloidalen Dispersionen beträgt ca. 30 nm. Größere Partikel als 5 µm konnten trotz Modifikation der Syntheseroute nicht erzeugt werden. Eine Abschätzung über den Aggregationsgrad der Kohlenstoffpulver wurde durchgeführt. Eine Beimischung von Phenol verringert in diesem System zum einen die Partikelgröße und erzeugt zunehmend nicht-sphärische Strukturen. Die aus Gassorption, SAXS und dynamischer Lichtstreuung (DLS) ermittelten Partikelgrößen stimmen gut überein. Bei der Pyrolyse schrumpfen die Partikel auf 84% des Ausgangswerts (Partikeldurchmesser). Ein Fokus dieser Arbeit lag in der Herstellung poröser Kohlenstoffe mit Phenol und Formaldehyd (PF) als Eduktbasis und unterkritischer Trocknung (Kohlenstoffxerogele). Um die Bandbreite der Eigenschaften der resultierenden Kohlenstoffxerogele zu erweitern, wurden zahlreiche Modifikationen der Syntheseparameter und im Herstellungsprozeß durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß im Eduktsystem Phenol-Formaldehyd in wäßriger Lösung mit Na2CO3 als basischem Katalysator prinzipiell poröse Xerogele herstellbar sind; allerdings verhindert eine ungewöhnliche Gelierkinetik (Flockenbildung statt Sol-Gel-Übergang) eine umfassende Interpretation des Systems, da die Reproduzierbarkeit der Ergebnisse nicht gewährleistet ist. Bei Phenol-Formaldehyd in wäßriger Lösung und NaOH als Katalysator kommt es meist zu einem Kollabieren des Gelnetzwerks während der Trocknung. Lediglich bei hohem Formaldehydüberschuß zeigt sich ein enger Bereich, in dem Xerogele mit geringer Dichte (rhomin = 0,22 g/cm3) und relevantem Mesoporenvolumen von bis zu 0,59 cm3/g synthetisierbar sind. Die interessanteste Kombination im PF-System ergibt sich mit HCl als Katalysator und n-Propanol als Lösungsmittel. Hier sind hochporöse Kohlenstoffxerogele mit geringen Dichten (rhomin = 0,23 g/cm3) und für Xerogele sehr hoher Mesoporosität von bis zu Vmeso = 0,85 cm3/g möglich. Damit ist es im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erstmals gelungen über konvektive Trocknung homogene hochporöse Xerogel-Formkörper auf PF-Basis zu synthetisieren. Aus der Überwachung des Sol-Gel-Prozesses mit Detektion der Soltemperatur konnten wichtige Erkenntnisse über exo- und endotherme Vorgänge gewonnen werden. Zudem zeigt die Zeitabhängigkeit der Soltemperatur Gemeinsamkeiten für alle untersuchten Hydroxybenzol-Formaldehyd-Systeme. So kann der Gelpunkt der Ansätze zuverlässig und auch reproduzierbar anhand eines zweiten lokalen Temperaturmaximums ermittelt werden, welches mit einer Gelpunktsenthalpie korreliert wird. Damit ist auch eine Prozeßkontrolle, z.B. für die Kombination mit Partikeltechnologien, möglich. Die zugrundeliegenden Strukturbildungsmechanismen, Sol-Gel-Prozeß einerseits und Trocknung andererseits, wurden in-situ mittels SAXS beobachtet und anhand der gewonnenen Daten diskutiert und bewertet. Eine vollständige Adaption des etablierten und akzeptierten Bildungsmechanismus von RF basierten Aerogelen (Partikelbildung aus Kondensationskeimen und Partikelwachstum) für das PF-System wird ausgeschlossen. Vielmehr scheint bei den untersuchten PF-Systemen auch eine Mikrophasenseparation als konkurrierender Prozeß zur Partikelbildung von Relevanz zu sein.