Mechanically strong and thermal insulating polyimide/SiO2 aerogel prepared by ambient drying

Ambient drying of polyimide (PI) aerogel is rarely reported due to the strong cross-linking network leading to large shrinkage. In this work, the hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles are used as skeleton enhancers and shrinkage inhibitors to maintain the nano-porous network structure and achieve ambient drying of PI/SiO2 aerogels. The results show that the PI/SiO(2 )aerogel prepared by ambient drying has similar thermal insulation and mechanical properties as the PI aerogel prepared by supercritical drying. The PI/SiO2 aerogel prepared by ambient drying is low-cost and simple to operate, which is expected to realize the industrialization and wide engineering application.

Automated summary

This study successfully achieved ambient drying of polyimide aerogel by adding hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles as enhancers and inhibitors. The resulting PI/SiO2 aerogel showed similar thermal insulation and mechanical properties to that prepared by supercritical drying.