Preparation and characterization of nitrocellulose aerogel

Using nitrocellulose as raw material, poly-hexamethylene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate and toluene diisocyanate as cross linker respectively, dibutyltin dilaurate as catalyst, acetone as solvent, nitrocellulose wet gel was prepared successfully, and nitrocellulose aerogel was prepared by supercritical fluid drying. The structure of nitrocellulose aerogel was characterized by FTIR, SEM and BET specific surface area analysis. The results show that the gelskeleton is accumulated by nano-particles with the size of about 50 nm. The size of aerogel pores ranges from 10 nm to 40 nm, which confirms that the aerogel belongs to mesoporous material. The BET surface area of the aerogel is controlled by the cross linking density. When NC concentration is 75 g/L and TDI as cross linker, the BET surface area of the aerogel is 133.3625 m²/g, and its onset and maximum decomposition temperature decreases about 12°C and 6°C, respectively.