One-pot Synthesis of Polymer-reinforced Silica Aerogels from High Internal Phase Emulsion Templates

Hypothesis: Conventional strategies for strengthening silica aerogels through polymer modification always lead to a significant density increase and an obvious sacrifice of thermal insulation performance. In this work, we propose a facile one-pot method for the preparation of polymer-reinforced silica aerogels via polymerization of water-in-oil high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) templates.

Experiments: Hyperbranched vinyl-modified polyethoxysiloxane (VPEOS) is used as both emulsion stabilizer and silica source. FT-IR spectra of VPEOS are recorded to confirm the successful incorporation of vinyl groups. The pore structure of polymer-functionalized silica aerogels is characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption and mercury intrusion porosimetry.

Findings: The Young's modulus is increased from 0.69 to 19.28 MPa, nearly 28 times that of unmodified silica aerogels. Moreover, the silica aerogels present a superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 152.4° and good thermal insulation. The superior performance properties of the polymer-reinforced silica aerogels over pure silica aerogels may guarantee their wide applications in energy and aerospace fields.