Calcination of ytterbia aerogels leads to ferromagnetic nanoporous ytterbium oxide networks

•Ytterbium oxide aerogels are synthesized with propylene oxide and citric acid.•Band gap and magnetic property of ytterbium oxide networks are investigated.•The nanoporous ytterbium oxide networks has potential application in catalytic field. Ytterbium oxide wet gels are synthesized with the dual assistant effects of propylene oxide and citric acid and processed to ytterbium oxide aerogels by supercritical drying. The nanoporous cubic Yb2O3 networks with about 10 nm crystallite size is obtained by heat treatment of ytterbium oxide aerogels in air at 600 °C. The band gap and magnetic property of the nanoporous cubic Yb2O3 networks are analyzed based on the band structure and density of states using first-principles calculation.