Aerogel: Ingredients & Thank You
Week #33: V1, V2, & V3 Procedures
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 📹
© 2023 by Carlos Manuel Jarquín Sánchez. All Rights Reserved.
