Robust polyimide nano/microfibre aerogels welded by solvent-vapour for environmental applications.

ABSTRACT: Due to the high porosity, resilience and ultra-low density, polymer nanofibre-derived aerogels (NFAs) have been widely investigated in recent years. However, welding of the fibrous networks of NFAs, which has been proved extremely essential to their structural performance, still remains a major challenge. Herein, electrospun polyimide (PI) nano/microfibres were used as building blocks to construct hierarchically porous aerogels through a solid-templating technique. By further welding the adjacent nano/microfibres at their cross-points in a controllable fashion by solvent-vapour, super elasticity was achieved for the aerogels, with a recoverable ultimate strain of 80%. It is noteworthy that this process is free from cross-linking, heating and significant structure changing (i.e. chemical st

SUBMITTER: Shen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6731741 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature