A porous layer is described. The porous layer comprises a solidified sol-gel inorganic material having a distribution of nanometric voids, wherein at least some of nanometric voids are at least partially coated internally by carbon or a hydrophobic substance containing carbon.

Methods of forming nanoporous materials are described herein that include forming a polymer network with a chemically removable portion. The chemically removable portion may be polycarbonate polymer that is removable on application of heat or exposure to a base, or a polyhexahydrotriazine (PHT) or polyhemiaminal (PHA) polymer that is removable on exposure to an acid. The method generally includes forming a reaction mixture comprising a formaldehyde, a solvent, a primary aromatic diamine, and a diamine having a primary amino group and a secondary amino group, the secondary amino group having a base-reactive substituent, and heating the reaction mixture to a temperature of between about 50 degC and about 150 degC to form a polymer. Removing any portion of the polymer results in formation of nanoscopic pores as polymer chains are decomposed, leaving pores in the polymer matrix.

A method for manufacturing a crosslinked polyolefin separator and a separator are provided. The method includes putting a polyolefin and a polyolefin elastomer into an extruder first, and putting an alkoxy silane containing a carbon-carbon double bond functional group, an initiator and a crosslinking catalyst to form the separator. The crosslinked polyolefin separator has high meltdown temperature and low shutdown temperature.

The present invention relates to polymer compositions (C) for the preparation of porous article, notably microporous membranes or hollow fibers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process of preparing a porous article from at least one polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) polymer with an additive and at least one reinforcing filler followed by a step of shaping the article and contacting the article with water to dissolve the additive and create an interconnected pore network within the shaped article.

The present invention relates to a method of shaping material having a plurality of interstices (such as a network of voids) and shaped products formed by the method. In preferred embodiments the material is a foam such as a polyurethane foam. The shaping method allows such materials to be shaped using contour-shaping machining methods including computer numerical control (CNC) milling, which is provided by way of example only. To be contrasted with methods of manufacturing a shaped material (such as by the polymerisation of a solution or emulsion of monomers), in several aspects the present invention contemplates the shaping of existing (preformed) materials having a plurality of interstices, such as a network of voids.

A method for manufacturing a crosslinked polyolefin separator and the crosslinked polyolefin separator obtained by the method are provided. The method includes (S1) mixing polyolefin, a diluting agent, an initiator and alkoxysilane containing a carbon-carbon double bonded group to an extruder, and then carrying out extrusion to obtain a silane-grafted polyolefin composition; (S2) molding and orienting the extruded silane-grafted polyolefin composition in the form of a sheet; (S3) introducing the oriented sheet to an extraction water bath containing a crosslinking catalyst to extract the diluting agent and perform aqueous crosslinking; and (S4) thermally fixing a resultant aqueous crosslinked product. The method can provide a separator having a high meltdown temperature and improved heat shrinkage.

A method for manufacturing a crosslinked polyolefin separator and the crosslinked polyolefin separator obtained therefrom are provided. The method includes non-grafted polyolefin having a weight average molecular weight of 300,000 or more and silane-grafted polyolefin having a weight average molecular weight of 300,000 or more. The method minimizes gel formation, a side reaction occurring in an extruder during the manufacture of the separator, and provides the separator having a uniform surface.

A method of forming a void, channel and/or vascular network in a polymeric matrix comprises providing a pre-vascularized structure that includes a matrix material and a sacrificial material embedded in the matrix material in a predetermined pattern, where the matrix material comprises a monomer and the sacrificial material comprises a polymer. A region of the matrix material is activated to initiate an exothermic polymerization reaction and generate a self-propagating polymerization front. As the polymerization front propagates through the matrix material and polymerizes the monomer, heat from the exothermic reaction simultaneously degrades the sacrificial material into a gas-phase and/or liquid-phase byproduct. Thus, one or more voids or channels having the predetermined pattern are rapidly formed in the matrix material.

A porous composition comprising a porous organic polymer (POP) fiber having a diameter of at least 100 nm and a length of at least 1 mm and pores having a size within a range of 10 nm to 5 microns distributed over the surface and volume of the POP fiber, wherein the organic polymer is insoluble in water and may be selected from, e.g., polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides, and polyacrylonitrile. Also described herein is a method for producing a POP fiber comprising: (i) forming a precursor fiber from a blend of an organic polymer and lignin, wherein the lignin is present in the form of domains within the precursor fiber; and (ii) washing the precursor fiber with a solvent that dissolves the lignin to result in the POP fiber. Also described herein is a method for removing oil from an oil-water mixture comprising contacting the oil-water mixture with the POP fibers.

A ceramic resin is provided, along with its methods of formation and use. The ceramic resin may include a crosslinkable precursor, a photoinitiator, ceramic particles, and pore forming particles. The ceramic resin may be utilized to form a ceramic casting element, such as via a method that includes forming a layer of the ceramic resin; applying light onto the ceramic resin such that the photoinitiator initiates polymerization of the crosslinkable precursor to form a crosslinked polymeric matrix setting the ceramic particles and the pore forming particles; and thereafter, heating the crosslinked polymeric matrix to a first temperature to burn out the pore forming particles.