A polymer aerogel has polymerizable monomers and crosslinkers, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of less than 1.5, and the polymer aerogel has a visible transmittance of at least 20%/3 mm, a haze of 50%/3 mm or lower, and a porosity of at least 10%. A method of producing an aerogel includes dissolving precursors into a solvent, wherein the precursors include monomers, crosslinkers, a controlling agent and an initiator to form a precursor solution, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of 1.5 or lower, polymerizing the precursor solution to form a gel polymer, and removing the solvent from the gel polymer to produce an aerogel polymer.

Methods of making blended, isoporous, asymmetric (graded) films (e.g. ultrafiltration membranes) comprising two or more chemically distinct block copolymers and blended, isoporous, asymmetric (graded) films (e.g. ultrafiltration membranes) comprising two or more chemically distinct block copolymers. The generation of blended membranes by mixing two chemically distinct block copolymers in the casting solution demonstrates a pathway to advanced asymmetric block copolymer derived films, which can be used as ultrafiltration membranes, in which different pore surface chemistries and associated functionalities can be integrated into a single membrane via standard membrane fabrication, i.e. without requiring laborious post-fabrication modification steps. The block copolymers may be diblock, triblock and/or multiblock mixes and some block copolymers in the mix may be functionally modified. Triblock copolymers comprising a reactive group (e.g., sulfhydryl group) terminated block and films comprising the triblock copolymers.

A method to produce a polymer gel includes dissolving precursors in a solvent to form a precursor solution, the precursors including polymer precursors, a stable free radical, one or more initiating radicals, and one or more stable free radical control agents, and heating the precursor solution to a temperature of polymerization to produce a cross-linked gel. A dried polymer aerogel has a Brunauer-Emmett Teller (BET) surface area over 100 m2/g, porosity of greater than 10%, visible transparency greater than 20%, color rendering index of over 20%, and average pore size of less than 100 nm.

A porous polybenzimidazole (PBI) particulate resin is disclosed. This resin is easily dissolved at ambient temperatures and pressures. The resin is made by: dissolving a virgin PBI resin in a highly polar solvent; precipitating the dissolved PBI in a bath; and drying the precipitated PBI, the dried precipitated PBI being porous. The porous PBI resin may be dissolved by: mixing a porous PBI resin with a highly polar solvent at ambient temperatures and pressures to form a solution.

A porous polybenzimidazole (PBI) particulate resin is disclosed. This resin is easily dissolved at ambient temperatures and pressures. The resin is made by: dissolving a virgin PBI resin in a highly polar solvent; precipitating the dissolved PBI in a bath; and drying the precipitated PBI, the dried precipitated PBI being porous. The porous PBI resin may be dissolved by: mixing a porous PBI resin with a highly polar solvent at ambient temperatures and pressures to form a solution.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a polyurethane foam, in particular an aerogel, from at least one polyisocyanate and at least one optionally recycled polyol, and to the use thereof.

Micro-sized particles having a polymeric structure of cells are provided. Also provided is a method of producing micro-sized particles having a polymeric structure comprising: (1) forming a homogenous solution by heating a mixture of a high molecular weight polymer and a low molecular weight material, wherein said low molecular weight material makes up at least about 50% by weight of the homogenous solution, (2) forming a dispersed solution by dispersing the homogenous solution formed in step (1) into an inert material, (3) cooling the dispersed solution to cause the high molecular weight polymer to phase separate from the low molecular weight material, (4) forming solid particles comprised of said low molecular weight material trapped inside a structure of cells of said high molecular weight polymer, and (5) removing the solid particles from the dispersed solution.

In one embodiment, a mixture includes a polyfunctional monomer having at least one functional group amenable to polymerization, a porogen, and a polymerization initiator. In another embodiment, a product includes a porous three-dimensional structure formed by additive manufacturing, where the porous three-dimensional structure has ligaments arranged in a geometric pattern, the ligaments defining pores therebetween. The pores have an average diameter greater than about 10 microns, where an average length scale of the ligaments is greater than 100 nanometers. The ligaments are nanoporous, where at least 80% of a volume measured according to outer dimensions of the porous three-dimensional structure corresponds to the pores.