Shape Memory Poly(β-hydroxythioether) Foams for Oil Remediation in Aquatic Environments

Abstract

Shape memory poly­(β-hydroxythioether) foams were produced using organobase catalyzed reactions between epoxide and thiol monomers, allowing for the rapid formation of porous media within approximately 5 min, confirmed using both rheology and physical foam blowing. The porous materials possess ultralow densities (0.022 g × cm–3) and gel fractions of approximately 93%. Thermomechanical characterizations of the materials revealed glass transition temperatures tunable from approximately 50 to 100 °C, elastic moduli of approximately 2 kPa, and complete strain recovery upon heating of the sample above its glass transition temperature. The foams were characterized for their ability to take up oil from an aqueous multilayered ideal environment, revealing more than 2000% mass of oil (relative to the foam mass) could be collected. Importantly, while post-fabrication functionalization was possible with isocyanate chemistry followed by addition of hexadecanethiol or 3,3-bis­(hexadecylthio)­propan-1-ol, the oil collection efficiency of the system was not significantly enhanced, indicating that these materials, as porous media, possess unique attributes that make them appealing for environmental remediation without the need for costly modifications or manipulations.

Three-Dimensional Polymer Nanofiber Structures for Liquid Contamination Adsorption

“…To further obtain a high-performance organic adsorbent with fast and efficient adsorption properties, a porous structure with high porosity and a large interface is of great importance. Although such an adsorbent has already been obtained in oleophilic foams, ,− the relevant research in amphiphilic foams is still a vacancy. The reason is that an amphiphilic foam requires both oleophilic and hydrophilic segments in molecular chains, but hydrogen bonds formed between hydrophilic segments seriously destroy the stability of the matrix in the scCO 2 foaming process, that is, a low temperature leads to too much hydrogen bonds hindering cell growth (low porosity), while a high temperature leads to too low matrix viscosity by breaking hydrogen bonds, causing cell collapse (low porosity). − Low porosity means a low adsorption efficiency.…”

Recent Progress of Non-Isocyanate Polyurethane Foam and Their Challenges

“…Self-blowing polyhydroxythioether (PHTE) and polyhydroxyurethane foams with excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties were synthesized. Figure 5 shows the preparation of the PHTE and PHU self-blowing foams [ 49 , 50 ].…”

Preparation of polymer-based foam for efficient oil–water separation based on surface engineering

“…[17][18][19] But considering the economic problem, it was difficult to produce these high adsorption materials on a large-scale. 17,19,20 Polymer microporous foams are considered to be very effective, of low-cost and recyclable adsorption materials, [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] but some porous foams had cell sizes smaller than 70 nm or were difficult to control due to the preparation conditions, which limited their application in high-viscosity oil processes. 2,14,29 In addition, one of the challenges of oil droplet adsorption was its wetting behaviors under complex environmental conditions, and there were no particularly effective oil adsorption materials for rapid adsorption of oil over a wide range of pH.…”

“…19,30 The potential application of polymer porous foams of oilwater separation in complex environments has attracted much attention. 6 At present, the study of oil/water separation foams showed that controlling the microstructures and morphologies mainly improved the oil/water separation performance, 24,26,27 a School of Materials Science and Engineer, Hubei University, Key Laboratory for and there were a few studies on improving their lipophilic and hydrophobic properties by changing the interface effects. The interface effects between oil, water and adsorbed materials should be taken into account in the oil-adsorbing cleaning process in complex environments.…”