The disclosure provides a very simple and convenient method for producing a porous material of a water-soluble polymer. The herein disclosed method for producing a porous material of a water-soluble polymer includes a step of preparing an emulsion containing a water-soluble polymer, water, and a dispersoid, wherein the water-soluble polymer is dissolved and the dispersoid is dispersed in the emulsion, and a step of evaporating and thereby removing the water and the dispersoid from the emulsion. The boiling point of the dispersoid is higher than the boiling point of water. The solubility of the water-soluble polymer in the dispersoid is lower than the solubility of the water-soluble polymer in water.

A curative for epoxidized plant-based oils and epoxidized natural rubber is created from the reaction between a naturally occurring polyfunctional acid and an epoxidized plant-based oil is disclosed. The curative may be used to produce at least one of six different materials, wherein each type of material may be configured as a thermosetting elastomer that is crosslinked with β-hydroxyester linkages. The materials may be configured as a leather-like material, a foam material, a molded elastomer, a coating, an adhesive, and/or a rigid or semi-rigid material. Illustrative articles made from any combination of the six materials may be recycled using a mechano-chemical process to de-crosslink the thermosetting elastomer.

A curative for epoxidized plant-based oils and epoxidized natural rubber is created from the reaction between a naturally occurring polyfunctional acid and an epoxidized plant-based oil is disclosed. The curative may be used to produce at least one of six different materials, wherein each type of material may be configured as a thermosetting elastomer that is crosslinked with ß-hydroxyester linkages. The materials may be configured as a leather-like material, a foam material, a molded elastomer, a coating, an adhesive, and/or a rigid or semi-rigid material. Illustrative articles made from any combination of the six materials may be recycled using a mechano-chemical process to de-crosslink the thermosetting elastomer.

A barrier layer is provided. The barrier layer includes a porous structure, which includes a polymer material, an oxide and a fluoro-containing material. A chemical bond is formed between the oxide and the polymer material. The fluoro-containing material, the polymer material and the oxide are assembled as a composite structure.

A method for producing porous particles of a cross-linked polymer, and porous particles that can be produced according to the method are disclosed. The porous particles of a crosslinked hydroxy- or amino-group-containing polymer have a relatively low swelling factor. A composite material contains the porous particles dispersed in a continuous aqueous phase. The porous particles, or the composite material, are used for purifying organic molecules and for bonding metals from solutions. A filter cartridge contains the porous particles of a cross-linked polymer or the composite material.

A coating created entirely from plant-derived ingredients is disclosed. Illustrative embodiments of the coating may be particularly well suited for use on leather-like materials created from epoxidized natural rubber-based formulations. Illustrative embodiments of the coating created may be comprised of substantially the reaction product between epoxidized vegetable oil and a polyfunctional naturally occurring acid (such as citric acid). Illustrative embodiments this reaction product may be used to produce porosity-free castable resins and vulcanize rubber formulations based on epoxidized natural rubber. Materials made from disclosed materials may be advantageously used as leather substitutes.

The invention involves functionalizing polymeric beads, such as DVB beads, to add an epoxide or aldehyde group. The resulting beads are useful in various applications.

A photocatalytic film according to the present disclosure includes a base film, a hard coat layer placed on the base film, and a photocatalytic coat layer placed on the hard coat layer, and is characterized in that the hard coat layer contains an ultraviolet-curable resin, the photocatalytic coat layer contains photocatalytic particles and a binder, the photocatalytic particles are tungsten oxide particles, and the binder is composed of a tetraalkoxysilane hydrolyzed condensate.

A resin composition for fabricating a separator which is easy to control viscosity, a method of preparing the same, and a battery including the same, are disclosed.

The present invention relates to a fibre composite material W of increased translucency and/or mechanical strength, comprising a copolymer C encompassing monomers A-1, where A-1 form covalent bonds with functional groups B-1 on the surface of fibres B embedded in the fibre composite material W, and this fibre composite material W has greater translucency and/or mechanical strength than a fibre composite material Win which the copolymer C contains no A-1. The present invention further embraces a method for producing a fibre composite material W of increased translucency and/or mechanical strength.