The invention provides a method for producing a heat insulating material composed of a hydrophobic aerogel, and the method includes the steps of: (1) mixing step; (2) hydrolysis step; (3) condensation step; (4) aging step; and (5) drying step. In the method, a siloxane compound, an inorganic gel, and a halogen-free surfactant are mixed and then a sol-gel process is performed to produce the aerogel heat-insulating material without water-washing. The produced heat-insulating material has preferable strength, smooth appearance, and low shrinkage and can overcome the powder-dropping problem. By the provided method, an aerogel heat-insulating board can be produced, or an aerogel cold-resisting and heat-insulating blanket can be produced by mixing with a fiber or a foam material.

The present invention concerns a method for producing a hydrogel comprising the following steps in succession: a first step (i) of providing at least one powder of an anionic polymer (A) and at least one chitosan powder (B) comprising amine functions (—NH.sub.2); a second step (ii) consisting in dry mixing at least the powders (A) and (B) from the first step in order to form a mixture of powders; a third step (iii) of suspending the mixture of powders obtained from the second step in an aqueous medium having a pH that can enable the anionic polymer (A) to be dissolved without dissolving the chitosan (B); a fourth step (iv) of adding an acid to the suspension obtained from the third step in order to form the hydrogel; or the third (iii) and fourth (iv) steps are replaced by a mixing fifth step (v), comprising mixing an acidified aqueous medium including at least one compound (C) comprising at least one unit of a hexose or a unit derived from a hexose, and/or at least one phosphate of said compound (C), with said mixture comprising at least the powders (A) and (B) obtained from the second step (ii).

This disclosure demonstrates a new method to produce three dimensional multiphasic structures, including bijels, via vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS). In VIPS, the evaporation of the co-solvent from a ternary mixture of oil, water and ethanol, induces phase separation. Particles present in the mixture attach to the interface and arrest the phase separation between water and oil. VIPS enables, inter alia, the fabrication of films and coatings via spreading or spraying particle-laden suspension onto a surface without the need for an outer aqueous phase.

The present disclosure relates to a method for preparing a restructured hydrogel, including forming a hydrogel containing a first polymer, unidirectionally shrinking and dehydrating the hydrogel, and additionally cross-linking and rehydrating the dehydrated hydrogel.

A single phase, organic-inorganic sol-gel with controlled rheology that can be solidified readily and converted into a ceramic material is provided. The organic-inorganic sol-gel may be uranium-based or cerium-based. Highly spherical ceramic microspheres such as uranium or cerium gel microspheres are fabricated and are able to be converted to homogeneous ceramics after thermal decomposition at high temperatures. Pure phase UC.sub.2 can be obtained upon carbothermal reaction. Pure phase U.sub.2N.sub.3 can also be obtained after converting UC.sub.2 to U.sub.2N.sub.3.

In an aspect, a method for making a metal-containing material comprises steps of: forming a metal-containing hydrogel from an aqueous precursor mixture using a photopolymerization; wherein the aqueous precursor mixture comprises water, one or more aqueous photosensitive binders, and one or more aqueous metal salts; and thermally treating the metal-containing hydrogel to form the metal-containing material; wherein the metal-containing hydrogel is exposed to a thermal-treatment atmosphere during the step of thermally treating; wherein a composition of the metal-containing material is at least partially determined by a composition of the thermal-treatment atmosphere during the thermally treating step.

Provided herein is a method of forming a bicontinuous intraphase jammed emulsion gel.

A method of forming a gel particle slurry includes providing a first solution that includes a cross-linkable hydrogel polymer macromer and an optional first crosslinker in a first depot and optionally a second solution in a second depot that is separated from the first depot by a mixing unit that includes a mixing element; and reversibly transferring the first solution and the optional second solution through the mixing unit between the first depot and the second depot such that the first solution and the optional second solution are mixed and agitated to form the gel particle slurry.

Converting colloidal systems, such as emulsions, dispersions, and suspensions to powders is highly demanded in a myriad of biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, oil and gas, food, energy, and environmental applications. Handling colloids is typically associated with persistent challenges including bacterial and viral contaminations, lack of terminal sterilization, impaired stability, short shelf life, high processing costs, and difficult packaging and transportation. Current techniques such as freeze-drying and spray-drying have noticeably failed in completely preserving the properties of dispersed phase while removing the continuous phase. The invention disclosed herein provides a new and easy method to convert colloidal systems to powders that are able to readily revive their properties upon resuspension.

The invention provides a method for producing a heat insulating material composed of a hydrophobic aerogel, and the method includes the steps of: (1) mixing step; (2) hydrolysis step; (3) condensation step; (4) aging step; and (5) drying step. In the method, a siloxane compound, an inorganic gel, and a halogen-free surfactant are mixed and then a sol-gel process is performed to produce the aerogel heat-insulating material without water-washing. The produced heat-insulating material has preferable strength, smooth appearance, and low shrinkage and can overcome the powder-dropping problem. By the provided method, an aerogel heat-insulating board can be produced, or an aerogel cold-resisting and heat-insulating blanket can be produced by mixing with a fiber or a foam material.