title: Robust superhydrophobic bridged silsesquioxane aerogels with tunable performances and their applications.
abstract: Aerogels are a family of highly porous materials whose applications are commonly restricted by poor mechanical properties. Herein, thiol-ene chemistry is employed to synthesize a series of novel bridged silsesquioxane (BSQ) precursors with various alkoxy groups. On the basis of the different hydrolyzing rates of the methoxy and ethoxy groups, robust superhydrophobic BSQ aerogels with tailorable morphology and mechanical performances have been prepared. The flexible thioether bridge contributes to the robustness of the as-formed aerogels, and the property can be tuned on the basis of the distinct combinations of alkoxy groups with the density of the aerogels almost unchanged. To the best of our knowledge, the lowest density among the ambient pressure dried aerogels is obtained. Further, potential application of the aerogels for oil/water separation and acoustic materials has also been presented.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhenchao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Haixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: aerogel; alkoxy group; bridged silsesquioxane; oil/water separation; robustness