A product includes an aerogel having a single bulk structure, the single bulk structure having at least one dimension greater than 10 millimeters. The single bulk structure includes a plurality of pores, where each pore has a largest diameter defined as a greatest distance between pore walls of the respective pore. In addition, an average of the largest diameters of a majority of the pores is within a specified range, and the plurality of pores are distributed substantially homogenously throughout the single bulk structure.

A reactive mixture and method for making a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) flexible foam having a predominantly open-cell structure (open-cell content of ≥50% by volume calculated on the total volume of the foam and measured according to ASTM D6226-10) and an apparent density below 200 kg/m.sup.3.

Aerogels comprising a hydrophobic polyimide moiety, including hydrophobic polyimide aerogels, as well as methods of manufacture and applications thereof, are generally described.

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A product includes an aerogel having a single bulk structure, the single bulk structure having at least one dimension greater than 10 millimeters. The single bulk structure includes a plurality of pores, where each pore has a largest diameter defined as a greatest distance between pore walls of the respective pore. In addition, an average of the largest diameters of a majority of the pores is within a specified range, and the plurality of pores are distributed substantially homogenously throughout the single bulk structure.

Manufacturing a low-K dielectric organic/inorganic aerogel composite material and its application are provided. The manufacturing method comprises: (1) mixing; (2) hydrolysis; (3) condensation; (4) aging; (5) drying; (6) impregnating polymer solution; (7) phase separation and drying; and (8) cross-linking and curing. The manufacturing method can produce a low-K dielectric organic/inorganic aerogel composite material having a high strength. The low-K dielectric aerogel is in a porous structure, and its porosity is higher than 70% and its density is from 0.12 g/cm.sup.3 to 0.45 g/cm.sup.3. The dielectric property of the low-K dielectric aerogel decreases along with an increase of its porosity, wherein a dielectric constant thereof is from 1.28 to 1.89, and a dielectric loss thereof is from 0.052 to 0.023. The low-k dielectric aerogel can be used for a dielectric layer in a high-frequency circuit, an insulation layer in a semiconductor device or a microwave circuit in a communication integrated circuit.

The present invention discloses novel porous polymeric compositions comprising random copolymers of amides, imides, ureas, and carbamic-anhydrides, useful for the synthesis of monolithic bimodal microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels. It also discloses methods for producing said microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels by the reaction of a polyisocyanate compound and a polycarboxylic acid compound, followed by pyrolytic carbonization, and by reactive etching with CO.sub.2 at elevated temperatures. Also disclosed are methods for using the microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels in the selective capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Porous three-dimensional networks of polyimide and porous three-dimensional networks of carbon and methods of their manufacture are described. For example, polyimide aerogels are prepared by mixing a dianhydride and a diisocyanate in a solvent comprising a pyrrolidone and acetonitrile at room temperature to form a sol-gel material and supercritically drying the sol-gel material to form the polyimide aerogel. Porous three-dimensional polyimide networks, such as polyimide aerogels, may also exhibit a fibrous morphology. Having a porous three-dimensional polyimide network undergo an additional step of pyrolysis may result in the three dimensional network being converted to a purely carbon skeleton, yielding a porous three-dimensional carbon network. The carbon network, having been derived from a fibrous polyimide network, may also exhibit a fibrous morphology.

A filtration material including a silica base material having a group represented by the following general formula (a0-1) [in formula (a0-1), Ya.sup.01 represents a divalent linking group; Ra.sup.01 represents a hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent; Ra.sup.02 represents a hydroxyl group or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms which may have a substituent; n.sup.01 represents an integer of 0 to 5; and the symbol “*” represents a valence bond with respect to the silica base material].

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The present invention relates to a process for preparing a porous material, at least comprising the steps of providing a mixture (I) comprising a composition (A) comprising components suitable to form an organic gel and a solvent (B), reacting the components in the composition (A) in the presence of the solvent (B) to form a gel, and drying of the gel obtained in step b), wherein the composition (A) comprises at least one compound (af) comprising phosphorous and at least one functional group which is reactive towards isocyanates. The invention further relates to the porous materials which can be obtained in this way and the use of the porous materials as thermal insulation material and in vacuum insulation panels, in particular in interior or exterior thermal insulation systems as well as in water tank or ice maker insulation systems.

Nanoporous three-dimensional networks of polyurethane particles, e.g., polyurethane aerogels, and methods of preparation are presented herein. Such nanoporous networks may include polyurethane particles made up of linked polyisocyanate and polyol monomers. In some cases, greater than about 95% of the linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers are urethane linkages. To prepare such networks, a mixture including polyisocyanate monomers (e.g., diisocyanates, triisocyanates), polyol monomers (diols, triols), and a solvent is provided. The polyisocyanate and polyol monomers may be aliphatic or aromatic. A polyurethane catalyst is added to the mixture causing formation of linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers. Phase separation of particles from the reaction medium can be controlled to enable formation of polyurethane networks with desirable nanomorphologies, specific surface area, and mechanical properties. Various properties of such networks of polyurethane particles (e.g., strength, stiffness, flexibility, thermal conductivity) may be tailored depending on which monomers are provided in the reaction.