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Falk Liebner, Antje Potthast, Thomas Rosenau, Emmerich Haimer, Martin Wendland

Cellulose aerogels: Highly porous, ultra-lightweight materials

Keywords: aerogels, carbon dioxide (supercritical), cellulose, Lyocell, N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO), regeneration, stabilization, supercritical drying

Cellulosic aerogels are intriguing new materials produced by supercritical drying of regenerated cellulose obtained by solvent exchange of solid Lyocell moldings. From N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) solutions with cellulose contents between 1 and 12%, dimensionally stable cellulose bodies are produced, in which the solution structure of the cellulose is largely preserved and transferred into the solid state, the material having densities down to 0.05 g cm^-3 and surface areas of up to 280 m² g^-1. In this study, several aspects of cellulosic aerogel production are communicated: the stabilization of the cellulose solutions against degradation reactions by agents suitable for later extraction and drying, a reliable extraction and drying procedure by supercritical carbon dioxide, the advantages of DMSO/NMMO in this procedure as a solvent/non-solvent pair, and some data on the physical properties of the materials.

Holzforschung, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0018-3830
Volume: 62, 03/2008
Pages: 129 - 135

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