A method for making an aerogel includes the steps of a) soaking a wet gel having a liquid phase in at least one solvent to substantially replace the liquid phase in the wet gel with the solvent to form a soaked gel; b) freezing the soaked gel to form a frozen gel; and c) drying the frozen gel in a vacuum chamber to form an aerogel.

The invention provides for polymer structures and their preparation and resulting novel functionalities including open-shell character and high intrinsic conductivity with wide-range tenability. Electrical conductivity can be further modulated by introducing or blending with materials, fillers, dopants, and/or additives. The materials or resultant composites of the invention can be processed by various techniques into different forms to realize multiple applications.

A method of coating a polymer surface, the method comprising: providing a polymer having a surface, optionally, treating at least a portion of the polymer surface with an oxidising agent, treating at least a portion of the polymer surface with a composition comprising a polysaccharide, oligosaccharide, polyol or mixture thereof, and incubating the treated polymer with the composition for a predetermined time. Also disclosed are polymers comprising such a coating, vessels comprising such coated polymers and medicals devices comprising such polymers.

The present invention provides a fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of Formula (1). The present invention also discloses a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer, which comprises a copolymer of a fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of Formula (1) with a near-infrared dye of Formula (2). The fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer of the present invention shrinks due to the photothermal conversion effect of the material under the irradiation of near-infrared light, and thus is widely applicable to the field of actuators. The fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of the present invention introduces fluorine-containing segments into the cross-linked network of the liquid crystal polymer, to improve the mechanical performance of the material, and greatly extend the service time of light-controlled actuators.

An anion exchange membrane is made by mixing 2 trifluoroMethyl Ketone [nominal] (1.12 g, 4.53 mmol), 1 BiPhenyl (0.70 g, 4.53 mmol), methylene chloride (3.0 mL), trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFSA) (3.0 mL) to produce a pre-polymer. The pre-polymer is then functionalized to produce an anion exchange polymer. The pre-polymer may be functionalized with trimethylamamine in solution with water. The pre-polymer may be imbibed into a porous scaffold material, such as expanded polytetrafluoroethylene to produce a composite anion exchange membrane.

Provided is a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin prepreg which exhibits high interfacial adhesion between reinforcement fibers and a matrix resin, while having excellent interlaminar fracture resistance. The fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin prepreg of the present invention comprises: a matrix resin comprising a polyarylketone resin and a polyetherimide resin; and a carbon fiber, wherein the polyetherimide resin in the matrix resin comprises a polyetherimide resin having a structural unit represented by Formula (1), an amount of the polyetherimide resin in the matrix resin (100% by mass) is 3% by mass to 25% by mass, and an amount of the polyarylketone resin in the matrix resin (100% by mass) is 75% by mass or more. ##STR00001##

A method for producing polymeric microparticle compositions using the steps of: 1) melt processing an immiscible polymeric blend comprising an immiscible polymer matrix and a soluble polymer matrix, 2) dissolving the soluble polymer matrix of the immiscible polymeric blend using a solvent to yield a polymeric microparticle composition, and 3) isolating the polymeric microparticle composition.

Disclosed is a method for producing an electrolytic capacitor, the method including the steps of preparing an anode foil that includes a dielectric layer, a cathode foil, and a fiber structure; preparing a conductive polymer dispersion liquid that contains a conductive polymer component and a dispersion medium; producing a separator by applying the conductive polymer dispersion liquid to the fiber structure and then removing at least a portion of the dispersion medium; and producing a capacitor element by sequentially stacking the anode foil, the separator, and the cathode foil. The dispersion medium contains water. The fiber structure contains a synthetic fiber in an amount of 50 mass % or more. The fiber structure has a density of 0.2 g/cm.sup.3 or more and less than 0.45 g/cm.sup.3.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention encompass compositions comprising a organopalladium compound, a photoacid generator, a photosensitizer and one or more olefinic monomers which undergo vinyl addition polymerization when said composition is exposed to a suitable actinic radiation to form a substantially transparent film. The monomers employed therein have a range of optical and mechanical properties, and thus these compositions can be tailored to form films having various opto-electronic properties. Accordingly, compositions of this invention are useful in various applications, including as coatings, encapsulants, fillers, leveling agents, among others.

Provided is a novel fluororesin useful as an electronic substrate material for high speed transmission. The fluorine resin has the structure of Formula (I), wherein n is within a range of 1 to 100, L has the structure in Formula (II) or Formula (III), R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are independently hydrogen atoms, C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 alkyl groups, C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 haloalkyl groups, or C.sub.6 to C.sub.10 aryl groups, or R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may be combined to form a ring structure that may include a substituent, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are each independently hydrogen, fluorine, C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon groups in which a portion of or all hydrogens may be substituted with a halogen, and C.sub.6 to C.sub.10 aryl groups in which a portion of or all hydrogens may be substituted with a halogen, and X is a group containing an olefinic carbon-carbon double bond or a carbon-carbon triple bond and at least one fluorine atom.

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