Highly Expanded Open-cell Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Foams Achieved by Microcellular Foaming for Efficient Oil Adsorption and Thermal Insulation

Chao Wei; Jia-Long Chai; Lei Zhang; Zhao-Rui Xu; Gui-Long Wang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3803-6

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Highly Expanded Open-cell Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Foams Achieved by Microcellular Foaming for Efficient Oil Adsorption and Thermal Insulation

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-09-10

- Highly Expanded Open-cell Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Foams Achieved by Microcellular Foaming for Efficient Oil Adsorption and Thermal Insulation
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-12(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Advanced Equipment and Technology for Metal Forming, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
  b.Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
  c.Linyi Huafeng Seal Technology Co., Ltd., Linyi 276628, China
- Author bio：
  
  xuzhaorui@mail.sdu.edu.cn (Z.R.X.)
  guilong@sdu.edu.cn (G.L.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3803-6
  CLC：
- Received：15 May 2026，
  
  Accepted：03 July 2026，
  
  Online First：10 September 2026，
  
  Published：2026-08
- Accepted：
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Wei, C.; Chai, J. L.; Zhang, L.; Xu, Z. R.; Wang, G. L. Highly expanded open-cell poly(vinylidene fluoride) foams achieved by microcellular foaming for efficient oil adsorption and thermal insulation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3803-6

Chao Wei, Jia-Long Chai, Lei Zhang, et al. Highly Expanded Open-cell Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Foams Achieved by Microcellular Foaming for Efficient Oil Adsorption and Thermal Insulation[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-12.
Wei, C.; Chai, J. L.; Zhang, L.; Xu, Z. R.; Wang, G. L. Highly expanded open-cell poly(vinylidene fluoride) foams achieved by microcellular foaming for efficient oil adsorption and thermal insulation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3803-6 DOI：

Chao Wei, Jia-Long Chai, Lei Zhang, et al. Highly Expanded Open-cell Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Foams Achieved by Microcellular Foaming for Efficient Oil Adsorption and Thermal Insulation[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-12. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3803-6.

摘要

Abstract

Environmental protection and management are crucial to sustainable development. Microcellular polymer foams with open-cell structures have attracted significant attention for applications in oil-spill remediation and thermal management owing to their low density

large specific surface area

high adsorption capacity

and supe

rior thermal insulation. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a promising candidate material because of its high durability

hydrophobicity

flame retardancy

and environmental resistance. However

the preparation of high-performance PVDF foams with open-cell structures is limited by their insufficient melt strength following crystal melting and narrow melting window. In this study

a green and efficient microcellular foaming strategy based on molten-crystalline transient regulation was employed to fabricate PVDF foams with high expansion ratios and highly open-cell structures. This strategy enables the precise regulation of the PVDF melt strength across an extended crystallization temperature range

thereby achieving excellent foamability. The resulting PVDF foams exhibited a high expansion ratio of 33.4

a significantly broadened foaming window of 120–160 °C

and a maximum open-cell content of 94.7%. These foams demonstrate outstanding comprehensive properties

including a low thermal conductivity of 31.26 mW∙m

–1

∙K

–1

high oil adsorption capacities ranging from 13.7 g∙g

–1

to 28.0 g∙g

–1

as well as good cyclic adsorption stability and compression performance. This work provides a green and efficient strategy for constructing high-performance open-cell PVDF foams

demonstrating promising potential for broad applications

such as oil-spill cleanup and thermal insulation.

关键词

Keywords

references

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