High optical transparency polymer aerogels using low refractive index monomers

Patent · Tue May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2021

OSTI ID:1823921

Bulger, Eli; Chintapalli, Mahati; Iftime, Gabriel; Van Overmeere, Quentin; Rivest, Jessica Louis Baker; Neelakantan, Ravi; Meckler, Stephen

A polymer aerogel has polymerizable monomers and crosslinkers, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of less than 1.5, and the polymer aerogel has a visible transmittance of at least 20%/3 mm, a haze of 50%/3 mm or lower, and a porosity of at least 10%. A method of producing an aerogel includes dissolving precursors into a solvent, wherein the precursors include monomers, crosslinkers, a controlling agent and an initiator to form a precursor solution, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of 1.5 or lower, polymerizing the precursor solution to form a gel polymer, and removing the solvent from the gel polymer to produce an aerogel polymer.

• Research Organization: Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: AR0000274
• Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated (Palo Alto, CA)
• Patent Number(s): 10,995,191
• Application Number: 16/228,472
• OSTI ID: 1823921
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English