Hierarchical porous PPBESK beads with enhanced strength and thermal insulation properties fabricated via non-solvent induced phase separation approach

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-07, Vol.492, p.152430, Article 152430
• Main Authors: Li, Hailong, Zhuo, Chen, Zou, Fangxin, Wang, Danhui, Xu, Shugang, Xu, Peiqi, Liu, Zeyuan, Lv, Fei, Wang, Xukun, Li, Chao, Feng, Huimei, Zhang, Shouhai, Jian, Xigao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Mechanical property; NIPS; Porous beads; PPBESK; Thermal insulation property
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.152430

[Display omitted] •Macro PPBESK beads with hierarchical pores are fabricated via NIPS approach.•PPBESK beads have a good thermal insulation property in a wide temperature window.•The compression modulus of PPBESK beads is more than 50 times higher than PS foam.•The performance can be controlled by the composition of the coagulation bath. Preparation of porous materials from high-performance polymers holds great promise for various advanced engineering applications like thermal insulation. However, it is still a great challenge to fabricate them due to the difficulties in manufacturing them. Herein, a high performance polymer material poly(aryl ether sulfone ketone)s containing phthalazinone and biphenyl moieties (PPBESK) was utilized to fabricate porous materials via a frequently used and simple method named non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS). Macro porous PPBESK beads have been fabricated in different non-solvent coagulation baths. The kinetics of the phase inversion processes are visualized by the optical microscope. The multi-scale porous structures formed inside the beads endow them an excellent thermal insulation performance in a wide temperature window and a high mechanical performance that the compression modulus is more than 50 times higher than Polystyrene (PS) foam. Therefore, these PPBESK beads provide an optimized combination of functionalities including high mechanical strength and good thermal insulation, which could turn out to be useful in harsh environmental applications.