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Title: Surfactant-free oil-in-oil emulsion-templating of polyimide aerogel foams
Abstract A surfactant-free oil-in-oil emulsion-templating method is presented for fabrication of monolithic polyimide aerogel foams using monomer systems that produce fast sol–gel transition. An aerogel foam is a high porosity (∼90%) material with coexisting meso- and macropores inherent to aerogels with externally introduced micrometer size open cells (macrovoids) that are reminiscent of foams. The macrovoids are introduced in polyimide sol using surfactant-free emulsion-templating of droplets of an immiscible liquid that are stabilized against coalescence by fast sol–gel transition. Three immiscible liquids – cyclohexane, n -heptane, and silicone oil – are considered in this work for surfactant-free emulsion-templating. The aerogel foam monoliths, recovered by supercritical drying, exhibit smaller size macrovoids when n -heptane and cyclohexane are used as emulsion-templating liquid, while the overall porosity and the bulk density show weak dependence on the emulsion-templating liquid.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1826030
PAR ID:
10396850
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Polymer Processing
Volume:
37
Issue:
4
ISSN:
0930-777X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
427 to 441
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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