The purpose of this paper was to prepare the silica aerogel using the sol-gel and supercritical drying processes. The supercritical drying was chosen as the most effective process, ensuring the best properties of product. For this reason the authors designed and built the supercritical dryer stand that allowed drying samples in high pressure and elevated temperature. The obtained silica aerogels exhibited good transparency, homogeneity, and comparable density. The specific surface measured by means of BET analysis equaled 870.5 g/cm

The presented paper contains a brief review on the synthesis and characterization of silica aerogels and its nanocomposites with nanofibers and fibers based on a literature study over the past twenty years and my own research. Particular attention is focused on carbon fiber-based silica aerogel nanocomposites. Silica aerogel is brittle in nature, therefore, it is necessary to improve this drawback, e.g., by polymer modification or fiber additives. Nevertheless, there are very few articles in the literature devoted to the synthesis of silica aerogel/fiber nanocomposites, especially those focusing on carbon fibers and nanofibers. Carbon fibers are very interesting materials, namely due to their special properties: high conductivity, high mechanical properties in relation to very low bulk densities, high thermal stability, and chemical resistance in the silica aerogel matrix, which can help enhance silica aerogel applications in the future.

In this study, a technology for obtaining functional inorganic-organic hybrid materials was designed using waste polymers of natural origin, i.e., kraft lignin and magnesium lignosulfonate, and alumina as an inorganic component. Al₂O₃-lignin and Al₂O₃-lignosulfonate systems were prepared by a mechanical method using a mortar grinder and a planetary ball mill, which made it possible to obtain products of adequate homogeneity in an efficient manner. This was confirmed by the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. In the next step, the developed hybrid materials were used as functional admixtures in cement mixtures, thus contributing to the formation of a modern, sustainable building material. How the original components and hybrid materials affected the mechanical properties of the resulting mortars was investigated. The admixture of biopolymers, especially lignin, led to cement composites characterized by greater plasticity, while alumina improved their strength properties. It was confirmed that the system containing 0.5 wt.% of alumina-lignin material is the most suitable for application as a cement mortar admixture.