Hong-Bing Chen

Biodegradable Pectin/Clay Aerogels

Biodegradable, foamlike materials based on renewable pectin and sodium montmorillonite clay were fabricated through a simple, environmentally friendly freeze-drying process. The addition of multivalent cations (Ca(2+) and Al(3+)) resulted in apparent cross-linking of the polymer and enhancement of aerogel properties. The compressive properties increased as the solid contents (both pectin and clay) increased; moduli in the range of 0.04-114 MPa were obtained for materials with bulk densities ranging from 0.03 g/cm(3) to 0.19 g/cm(3), accompanied by microstructural changes from a lamellar structure to a cellular structure. Biodegradability of the aerogels was investigated by detecting CO2 release for 4 weeks in compost media. The results revealed that pectin aerogels possess higher biodegradation rates than wheat starch, which is often used as a standard for effective biodegradation. The addition of clay and multivalent cations surprisingly increased the biodegradation rates.

Excellent Electromagnetic Absorption Capability of Ni/Carbon Based Conductive and Magnetic Foams Synthesized via a Green One Pot Route

Electromagnetic microwave absorption materials have attracted a great deal of attention. Foams for the low density and tunable porosity are considered as ideal microwave absorbents, while with the requirement of improving their inherent electromagnetic properties. In this manuscript, an innovative, easy, and green method was presented to synthesize an electromagnetic functionalized Ni/carbon foam, in which the formation of Ni nanoparticles and carbon occurred simultaneously from an affordable alginate/Ni(2+) foam precursor. The resultant Ni/carbon foam had a low density (0.1 g/cm(-3)) and high Ni nanoparticles loading (42 wt %). These Ni nanoparticles with a diameter of about 50-100 nm were highly crystallized and evenly embedded in porous graphite carbon without aggregation. Also, the resultant foam had a high surface area (451 m(2) g(-1)) and porosity and showed a moderate conductivity (6 S/m) and significant magnetism. Due to these special characteristics, the Ni/carbon foam exhibited greatly enhanced microwave absorption ability. Only with 10 wt % of functional fillers being used in the test template, the Ni/carbon foam based composite could reach an effective absorption bandwidth (below -10 dB) of 4.5 GHz and the minimum reflection value of -45 dB at 13.3 GHz with a thickness of 2 mm, while the traditional carbon foam and nano-Ni powder both showed very weak microwave absorption (the minimum reflection value < -10 dB). This foam was demonstrated to be a lightweight, high performance, and low filler loading microwave absorbing material. Furthermore, the detailed absorption mechanism of the foam was investigated. The result showed that the derived strong dielectric loss, including conductivity loss, interface polarization loss, weak magnetic loss, and naoporosity, contributes a great electromagnetic absorption.

Preparation and Flammability of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Composite Aerogels

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH)-based aerogel composites with nanoscale silica, halloysite, montmorillonite (MMT), and laponite were prepared via a freeze-drying method. The PVOH/MMT and PVOH/laponite composites exhibit higher compressive moduli than the PVOH/SiO2 or PVOH/halloysite samples. Layered microstructures were observed for the samples except with PVOH/laponite, which showed irregular network morphologies. Thermogravimetric analysis of the aerogel samples showed increased thermal stability with the addition of nanofillers. The heat release measured by cone calorimetry, smoke release, and carbon monoxide production of the aerogel composites are all significantly decreased with the addition of nanofillers; these values are much lower than those for commercial expanded polystyrene foam. The fillers did not lead to obvious increases in the limiting oxygen index values, and the corresponding time to ignition values decrease. The ability to adjust the nanofiller levels in these foamlike aerogel composites allows for specific tuning of these products for fire safety.

Fabrication and properties of irradiation-cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol)/clay aerogel composites.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH)/clay aerogel composites were fabricated by an environmentally friendly freeze-drying of the aqueous precursor suspensions, followed by cross-linking induced by gamma irradiation without chemical additives. The influences of cross-linking conditions, i.e., absorbed dose and polymer loading as well as density on the aerogel structure and properties, were investigated. The absorbed dose of 30 kGy was found to be the optimum dose for fabricating strong PVOH composites; the compressive modulus of an aerogel prepared from an aqueous suspension containing 2 wt % PVOH/8 wt % clay increased 10-fold, and that containing 1 wt % PVOH/9 wt % clay increased 12 times upon cross-linking with a dose of 30 kGy. Increasing the solids concentration led to an increase in the mechanical strength, in accordance with the changes in microstructure from layered structure to network structure. The increase of absorbed dose also led to decreased porous size of the network structure. Cross-linking and the increase of the PVOH lead to decreased thermal stability. The strengthened PVOH/clay aerogels possess very low flammability, as measured by cone calorimetry, with heat, smoke, and volatile products release value decreasing as increasing clay content. The mechanism of flame retardation in these materials was investigated with weight loss, FTIR, WAXD, and SEM of the burned residues. The proposed mechanism is that with decreasing fuel content (increasing clay content), increased heat and mass transport barriers are developed; simultaneously low levels of thermal conductivity are maintained during the burning.

A phosphorus-containing PET ionomer: from ionic aggregates to flame retardance and restricted melt-dripping

In this study, a novel phosphorus-containing ionic monomer, named sodium salt of 10H-phenoxaphosphine-2,8-dicarboxylic acid,10-hydroxy-,2,8-dihydroxyethyl ester,10-oxide (DHPPO-Na), was synthesized, characterized, and then copolymerized to prepare poly(ethylene terephthalate)-based ionomers. The chemical structure of the resulting ionomers was confirmed by 1H, 13C, and 31P NMR spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to investigate the thermal properties of the ionomers. Compared with that of neat PET, the initial decomposition temperature of PETIs decreased in a nitrogen atmosphere while it increased in air. The crystallinity of PETIs was enhanced firstly and then destroyed with the ionic group increase. The limiting oxygen index (LOI) test and cone calorimeter were used to characterize the flame-retardant properties of the ionomers. The results showed that the introduction of DHPPO-Na could endow an expected flame-retardant performance, meanwhile it considerably restricted the melt-dripping behavior and suppressed the smoke release. The rheology test confirmed that the ionic groups increased the melt viscosity via ionic aggregation during heating, which was a benefit for the flame-retardant property of the copolyester.

Biomass-Based Mechanically Strong and Electrically Conductive Polymer Aerogels and Their Application for Supercapacitors

A novel biomass-based mechanically strong and electrically conductive polymer aerogel was fabricated from aniline and biodegradable pectin. The strong hydrogen bonding interactions between polyaniline (PANI) and pectin resulted in a defined structure and enhanced properties of the aerogel. All the resultant aerogels exhibited self-surppoted 3D nanoporous network structures with high surface areas (207-331m(2)/g) and hierarchical pores. The results from electrical conductivity measurements and compressive tests revealed that these aerogels also had favorable conductivities (0.002-0.1 S/m) and good compressive modulus (1.2-1.4 MPa). The aerogel further used as electrode for supercapacitors showed enhanced capacitive performance (184 F/g at 0.5 A/g). Over 74% of the initial capacitance was maintained after repeating 1000 cycles of the cylic voltammetry test, while the capacitance retention of PANI was only 57%. The improved electrochemical performance may be attributed to the combinative properties of good electrical conductivity, BET surface areas, and stable nanoporous structure of the aerogel. Thus, this aerogel shows great potential as electrode materials for supercapacitors.

Block phosphorus-containing poly(trimethylene terephthalate) copolyester via solid-state polymerization: retarded crystallization and melting behaviour

The crystallization behavior of neat PTT and phosphorus-containing PTT copolyester with specific block chain structure (PTTDs, obtained by solid-state polymerization (SSP)) has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized microscopy (POM) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). The overall crystallization kinetics study shows that crystallization is retarded with introduction of a phosphorus-containing segment. This retardation effect is obvious for PTTD10; however, no greater retardation can be observed with further increasing the phosphorus content, which is attributed to the hindering effect of phosphorus-containing segment and specific chain structure, and is in accordance with the crystallization morphology. The crystallization rate of PTTDs is much lower at high crystallization temperature than that of PTT, which can be explained by the diluent effect of the non-crystallizable chain segment. The result of spherulite growth is in accordance with DSC study. The rigid amorphous fraction (RAF) is also calculated, which increases with increasing phosphorus content, suggesting that RAF is not the main factor for retarded crystallization. The main factors of retarded crystallization are probably caused by the diluent effect and the hindering effect of the specific chain structure. With incorporation of phosphorus-containing segments, the transition temperature is slightly changed; however, the equilibrium melting temperature (Tm0) of the copolyester decreases. The phosphorus-containing segment plays the role of nucleation agent at regime III.

Effects of Molecular Weight upon Irradiation-Cross-Linked Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Clay Aerogel Properties

Facile fabrication of mechanically strong poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH)/clay aerogel composites through a combination of increasing polymer molecular weights and gamma irradiation-cross-linking is reported herein. The aerogels produced from high polymer molecular weights exhibit significantly increased compressive moduli, similar to the effect of irradiation-induced cross-linking. The required irradiation dose for fabricating strong PVOH composite aerogels with dense microstructure decreased with increasing polymer molecular weight. Neither thermal stability nor flammability was significantly changed by altering the polymer molecular weight or by modest gamma irradiation, but they were highly dependent upon the polymer/clay ratio in the aerogel. Optimization of the mechanical, thermal, and flammability properties of these composite aerogels could therefore be obtained by using relatively low levels of polymer, with very high polymer molecular weight, or lower molecular weight coupled with moderate gamma irradiation. The facile preparation of strong, low flammability aerogels is an alternative to traditional polymer foams in applications where fire safety is important.