Jiang Shaohua, Gruen Viktoria, Rosenfeldt Sabine, Schenk Anna S, Agarwal Seema, Xu Zhi-Kang, Greiner Andreas
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
Universität Bayreuth, Physical Chemistry, Universitätsstrasse 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
Research (Wash D C). 2019 May 30;2019:4152536. doi: 10.34133/2019/4152536. eCollection 2019.
Sponges are open cellular materials with numerous interesting features. However, the potential of compartmentalized sponges has not been explored although many new properties and applications could be envisioned. We found that compartmentalized fibrous ultraporous polymer sponges with superhydrophobic surfaces could be designed as virtually wall-less reaction containers. With this, for example, the efficient removal of CO from water and the controlled mineralization of calcium carbonate are possible. The high porosity (>99%) and superhydrophobicity make these sponges ideal candidates to hold alkanolamine solution for absorbing CO and exchange gas through the walls of the sponges. The tubular sponge exhibits a much higher evaporation rate than a glass tube with the same diameter due to the much larger contact area between water and air. Therefore, the spongy reaction container also possesses a much faster adsorption rate, smaller equilibration time and higher efficiency for CO adsorption than the glass tube container. In addition, these tubular sponges are also utilized to precipitate calcium carbonate by ammonium carbonate decomposition, which can control the deposition rates and products by tailoring the porosity and surface chemistry in the future. These new sponges provide an ideal basis for numerous new applications, for example, as breathable pipe lines for gas-liquid exchange, slag slurry carbonization, humidifier, and blood enricher.
海绵是具有众多有趣特性的开孔材料。然而，尽管可以设想出许多新特性和应用，但分区海绵的潜力尚未得到探索。我们发现，具有超疏水表面的分区纤维状超多孔聚合物海绵可以设计成几乎无壁的反应容器。据此，例如，从水中有效去除一氧化碳以及碳酸钙的可控矿化成为可能。高孔隙率（>99%）和超疏水性使这些海绵成为容纳醇胺溶液以吸收一氧化碳并通过海绵壁进行气体交换的理想候选材料。由于水与空气之间的接触面积大得多，管状海绵的蒸发速率比相同直径的玻璃管高得多。因此，海绵状反应容器对于一氧化碳的吸附速率也快得多，平衡时间更短，效率比玻璃管容器更高。此外，这些管状海绵还被用于通过碳酸铵分解沉淀碳酸钙，未来可以通过调整孔隙率和表面化学来控制沉积速率和产物。这些新型海绵为众多新应用提供了理想基础，例如用作气液交换的透气管道、矿渣浆碳化、加湿器和血液浓缩器。
