title: Poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose nanofibril hybrid aerogels with an aligned microtubular porous structure and their composites with polydimethylsiloxane.
abstract: Superhydrophobic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogels with a unidirectionally aligned microtubular porous structure were prepared using a unidirectional freeze-drying process, followed by the thermal chemical vapor deposition of methyltrichlorosilane. The silanized aerogels were characterized using various techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The structure of the aerogels fully filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was confirmed by SEM and optical microscopy. The mechanical properties of the resulting PDMS/aerogel composites were examined using both compressive and tensile tests. The compressive and tensile Young's moduli of the fully filled PDMS/aerogel composites were more than 2-fold and 15-fold higher than those of pure PDMS. This study provides a novel alternative approach for preparing high performance polymer nanocomposites with a bicontinuous structure.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
authors.forename: Tianliang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Qifeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Lih-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Turng
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
authors.forename: Hesheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Shaoqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gong
keywords: cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs); mechanical properties; organic aerogels; polydimethylsiloxane; unidirectional freeze-drying