Aerogel: Ingredients & Thank You

Week #33: V1, V2, & V3 Procedures

Carlos Manuel Jarquín Sánchez
4 min readJun 7, 2023

Preface! ✨

Hello everyone!

My intentions for writing these articles are:

  • Explain technical information about aerogels in simple terms (to the public)
  • Store information and habits for my future self and others (in <7 minutes)

Coolio? Sweet. Enjoy the series :-)

I Win. ⚛️

After 361 days:

41 articles,

48 newsletter posts,

17 videos,

19 rejections from grant programs + VCs,

6 failed attempts to acquire chemicals,

2 unsuccessful experiments,

A crashed newsletter,

And a disintegrated project,

I have FINALLY…

FINALLY.

Built the filter for heavy metal ion removal from water…

Using the delicate, eloquent fabric of Mother Nature.

For a village, my family calls home,

And a place I want my kids to see one day.

But someone had to take action…

To preserve the MVP asset for decades to come:

Water.

We will fight for it soon…

So let’s prepare for that.

Use what you got.

This journey was not easy.

But the pain of childhood & never showing the village to my kids,

Gave me the fuel to keep going.

Pain > Desire to help… any day of the year.

P.S. The video will be at the end of the article.

Procedures + Ingredients: V1 & V2 🔮

V1 Steps

The strongest beads had:

2% or 2.25% concentration of giant kelp powder (C6-H7-Na-O6)

2 grams of kelp powder in 100 mL of Distilled H2O

2.25 grams of kelp powder in 100 mL of Distilled H2O

Stir until partially dissolved.

To add color (so you can see the beads):

Insert McCormick food coloring, of whatever choice

I added five drops, but I recommend three…

It is a lot once you begin to stir.

If you stir manually, it will take ~25 minutes for complete dissolution.

If you use a blender, it will take ~5 minutes for complete dissolution.

If you stir manually, use metal spoons.

Once the kelp powder, food coloring, and water have been mixed,

To create an oozing, highly-viscous fluid:

You’ll make a 4% or 5% Calcium Chloride Solution. (CaCl2)

That was what worked best for me.

It will be 20 grams of CaCl2 in 500 mL of Distilled H2O

Or 25 grams of CaCl2 in 500 mL in Distilled H2O

This does not require a blender,

You can stir manually for ~5 minutes and you’re good to go.

V2 Steps

To get the beads to maintain form after squishing them with tweezers,

Simply add the right amount to allow a colloidal solution.

Colloidal Solution → Free-flow spreading of a solid in a liquid.

Our solid is the powder, the liquid is the food coloring & water.

If we add too much, we interrupt equal dispersion,

And we’re left with chunks of powder in the liquid.

If we add too little, we won’t create enough dispersion for the perlas to have mechanical strength.

The strongest perlas were 2% kelp powder & 5% CaCl2 concentrations.

Procedures + Ingredients: V3 🌠

To create the perlas,

Repeat the V1 + V2 steps.

Once that’s done,

Get some polybutyl methacrylate.

It’s the hydrophobe powder required to make the beads hydrophobic.

Be careful with this chemical. It may irritate your skin if you touch it.

I used 10 grams of the powder and mixed it with the giant kelp powder.

In full honesty, I would suggest using 5 grams.

I left powder residue in the solution, not equal dispersion. :\

Then I stirred manually for ~15 minutes.

Tools I Used 🔨

Plastic Syringe

Pippetes

KN-95 Mask

Three plastic cups (didn’t have glass beakers)

Metal Spoons

Arrowhead Distilled Water

How I Would 10x The Filter ⏫

If I had access to a top-class laboratory,

I would have inserted these ingredients:

A Buffer

And A Catalyst

The catalyst would be EDC

The buffer would NHS

Use glass beakers and electronic stirring kits. They help wonders.

And use heavy metal ions to test also their adsorption capabilities.

I was able to get about 40% - 50% of the perla to be hydrophobic.

And if I had access to those tools, I would smash it out of the ballpark.

Final Words 📜

Thank you to the people who believed in my vision.

To save my people.

To save my village.

As I possess the resources to look after them, nurture them,

And create miracles.

Ejutla + San José Del Progreso will be okay…

Way After I’m Long Gone.

Here’s your name:

God

Leandro R.

Katelyn P.

Venkat Y.

Anna H.

Harry I.

Daniel K.

Unmol S.

Alexander Y.

Sasha E.

Roy K.

Aditya D.

Neil M.

Sofía S.

Sasha P.

Nikolas T.

Michael R.

Daniel G.

Andrés V.

Navid N.

Raj J.

TKS

TRW

Felix T.

Tyler C.

Danielle S.

Mom

Brother

Dad

And all the supporters.

And thank you, too…

For the people who rejected me + tried to take me down.

You’ve proven that when someone has a vision,

Nothing can stop them.

Maktub | مَكْتُوب

It was written.

CJ

The Videos 📹

Connect →🔗

Twitter

YouTube

cjarquin0005@gmail.com

© 2023 by Carlos Manuel Jarquín Sánchez. All Rights Reserved.

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