Locking small solvents by hypercrosslinked polymers towards sterically hindered organogels

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Sterically hindered organogels offer improved strength and stability over traditional gels.
• A key challenge is entrapping small solvents due to polymer network mesh size limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a hypercrosslinked polyurea network capable of entrapping small solvents.
• To develop robust organogels with enhanced environmental and mechanical stability.

Main Methods:

• Designed a hypercrosslinked polyurea network with a small mesh size (~1.17 nm).
• Utilized bio-based acetyl tributyl citrate molecules (~1.25 nm) as small solvents.
• Investigated properties such as viscosity, wettability, permeation, and curing speed.

Main Results:

• The polyurea network successfully captured small solvent molecules.
• The resulting organogels exhibited low viscosity, high wettability, strong permeation, and fast curing.
• The organogels demonstrated mechanical robustness and stability across various conditions (temperature, water, pressure, solvents).

Conclusions:

• The developed polyurea organogels overcome traditional limitations, offering enhanced properties.
• These materials show promise as permeable coatings, strong adhesives, and reinforcement for low-carbon concrete.