New publication on recyclable organic aerogels in Advanced Materials

Unfortunately, these aerogels are mostly produced from fossil-based feedstocks and non-recyclable, which raises environmental concerns. Furthermore, conventional organic aerogels suffer from low thermal stability and fire hazards.

To address these challenges and create the next generation of organic aerogels, we developed bio-based polyimine aerogels that utilize reversible chemical bonds. This approach improves the thermal stability of the aerogels while reducing their environmental impact. Most notably, these aerogels can be efficiently recycled in a closed-loop system under acidic conditions, resulting in high yields and purities of the monomer building blocks. These bio-based, fully recyclable, and high-performance polyimine aerogels are a significant advancement towards sustainable super insulating materials.

These research results were published in Advanced Materials: “Closed-Loop Recyclable High-Performance Polyimine Aerogels Derived from Bio-Based Resources”, Adv. Mater. 2023, 35, 2209003.