Advances in Nanostructured Materials via Templated Sol-Gel Structure Control and Self-Assembly

This dissertation describes a body of work focused on understanding and improving morphology control of nanoporous structures via their aqueous chemistry. Synthesis of materials was carried out primarily using the Pechini process with metal nitrates and colloidal crystal templates. CeO2 and CeO 2-derived compounds were used for a substantial portion of the dissertation as they are useful for thermochemical cycling experiments. Templated CeO 2 shows a tenfold improvement over an untemplated material as well as a nanoparticle powder under lab-scale thermochemical cycling experiments.;The Pechini process itself was then investigated as a means to obtain greater structural control over colloidal crystal templated materials. The process was demonstrated to involve phase separation, which allowed for the production of microspheres and bicontinuous networks of templated CeO 2-based solids. Microspheres produced were between 1--3 microm in size, with polydispersity less than 15%. Further experimentation demonstrated that this phase separation methodology was generalizable to Fe2O 3 and Mn3O4, though higher polydispersities were obtained for these materials.;The final research project accomplished in this dissertation involves a method to produce ordered collagen fibrils through the incorporation of nanocrystalline cellulose during fibrillogenesis. Results were verified via scanning electron microscopy and a mechanism was proposed based on infrared spectroscopy results indicating a decrease in collagen-collagen hydrogen bonding.