“…If aerogels are going to be used, they must be strong enough to withstand being manipulated without breaking apart into shards and powder [7]. We have previously addressed the inherently weak mechanical properties of silica aerogels by using rapid, chemical vapor deposition of chlorosilane monomers [8] or cyanoacrylate monomers onto aerogels [9,10] and surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization [11] of methyl methacrylate onto the surface of the gels before drying to afford silica aerogel-PMMA composites. Others have strengthened silica aerogels by introducing cross-linked epoxy resins [12], styrenes [13], and isocyanates [14,15] by polymerizations conducted in the gels before drying.…”