Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

On the formation and structure of nanometric polyhedral foams: Toward the dry limit

Corkery, Robert W LU and Fogden, Andrew LU (2008) In Langmuir 24(18). p.10443-10452
Abstract
High surface area, high porosity, nanometric polygonal silica foams with hierarchically connected and uniformly sized pore systems are reported here. We observe a remarkable increase in foam cell sizes from mesoscopic to macroscopic dimensions upon swelling the self-assembled template with oil. The resultant structures resemble classical macroscopic soap foams and display, among other features, Plateau borders and volume fractions approaching the dry limit of 100%. In well-developed foams of this kind, dimensionally isometric polyhedral cells are connected by relatively short, flat cylindrical mesopores through polyhedral faces and micropores through the walls. For one sample, with approximately 75 nm diameter primary foam cells, we infer... (More)
High surface area, high porosity, nanometric polygonal silica foams with hierarchically connected and uniformly sized pore systems are reported here. We observe a remarkable increase in foam cell sizes from mesoscopic to macroscopic dimensions upon swelling the self-assembled template with oil. The resultant structures resemble classical macroscopic soap foams and display, among other features, Plateau borders and volume fractions approaching the dry limit of 100%. In well-developed foams of this kind, dimensionally isometric polyhedral cells are connected by relatively short, flat cylindrical mesopores through polyhedral faces and micropores through the walls. For one sample, with approximately 75 nm diameter primary foam cells, we infer three separate sets of cell-connecting mesopores puncturing tetragonal, pentagonal, and hexagonal faces of the component polyhedra. A multiple step model of foam formation is discussed where an organic silica precursor progressively hydrolyzes and condenses as a growing flexible shell from the core-corona interface of oil-swollen triblock copolymer micelles or microemulsion droplets, inducing a clouding phenomena in the otherwise stabilizing poly(ethylene oxide) chains, leading to aggregation, deformation, and jamming to high volume fractions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Langmuir
volume
24
issue
18
pages
10443 - 10452
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000259120500078
  • scopus:52649089140
ISSN
0743-7463
DOI
10.1021/la801228x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Physical Chemistry 1 (S) (011001006), Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (011001000)
id
244cce7b-5b57-438c-a294-ca81beb32a1e (old id 1246882)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:24:13
date last changed
2022-01-27 03:16:24
@article{244cce7b-5b57-438c-a294-ca81beb32a1e,
  abstract     = {{High surface area, high porosity, nanometric polygonal silica foams with hierarchically connected and uniformly sized pore systems are reported here. We observe a remarkable increase in foam cell sizes from mesoscopic to macroscopic dimensions upon swelling the self-assembled template with oil. The resultant structures resemble classical macroscopic soap foams and display, among other features, Plateau borders and volume fractions approaching the dry limit of 100%. In well-developed foams of this kind, dimensionally isometric polyhedral cells are connected by relatively short, flat cylindrical mesopores through polyhedral faces and micropores through the walls. For one sample, with approximately 75 nm diameter primary foam cells, we infer three separate sets of cell-connecting mesopores puncturing tetragonal, pentagonal, and hexagonal faces of the component polyhedra. A multiple step model of foam formation is discussed where an organic silica precursor progressively hydrolyzes and condenses as a growing flexible shell from the core-corona interface of oil-swollen triblock copolymer micelles or microemulsion droplets, inducing a clouding phenomena in the otherwise stabilizing poly(ethylene oxide) chains, leading to aggregation, deformation, and jamming to high volume fractions.}},
  author       = {{Corkery, Robert W and Fogden, Andrew}},
  issn         = {{0743-7463}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{18}},
  pages        = {{10443--10452}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Langmuir}},
  title        = {{On the formation and structure of nanometric polyhedral foams: Toward the dry limit}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la801228x}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/la801228x}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}