Abstract
Ultralight cellular sponges offer a unique set of properties. We show here that solvent uptake by these sponges results in new gel-like materials, which we term spongy gels. The appearance of the spongy gels is very similar to classic organogels. Usually, organogels are formed by a bottom-up process. In contrast, the spongy gels are formed by a top-down approach that offers numerous advantages for the design of their properties, reproducibility, and stability. The sponges themselves represent the scaffold of a gel that could be filled with a solvent, and thereby form a mechanically stable gel-like material. The spongy gels are independent of a time-consuming or otherwise demanding in situ scaffold formation. As solvent evaporation from gels is a concern for various applications, we also studied solvent evaporation of wetting and non-wetting liquids dispersed in the sponge.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 3285-3288 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Angewandte Chemie - International Edition |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 Mar 13 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Keywords
- electrospinning
- gels
- sponges
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Catalysis
- General Chemistry