Polypropylene-based aerogels with high surface area have been developed for the first time. By chemical crosslinking of polypropylene with oligomeric capped-end amino compounds, followed by dissolution, thermally induced phase separation, and the supercritical CO2 drying process or freeze-drying method, the aerogels exhibit high specific surface areas up to 200 m2/g. Moreover, the silica-cage multi-amino compound was utilized in a similar vein for forming hybrid polypropylene aerogels. According to the SEM, the developed polypropylene-based aerogels exhibit highly porous morphology with micro-nanoscale structural features that can be controlled by processing conditions. Our simple and inexpensive synthetic strategy results in a low-cost, chemically resistant, and highly porous material that can be tailored according to end-use applications.

Center for Innovations in the Field of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies J Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Dolejskova 3 182 23 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Advanced Materials Institute for Nanomaterials Advanced Technologies and Innovation Technical University of Liberec 461 17 Liberec Czech Republic

Department of Materials and Nanotechnology SINTEF Industry Forskningsveien 1 0373 Oslo Norway

Department of Science and Research Faculty of Health Studies Technical University of Liberec 461 17 Liberec Czech Republic

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