Thin shell aerogel fabrication for FIREX-I targets using high viscosity (phloroglucinol carboxylic acid)/formaldehyde solution

Capsules with a thin aerogel shell were prepared by the O O /W/O I emulsion process. (Phloroglucinol carboxylic acid)/formaldehyde (PF) was used as the water phase (W) solution to form the shell of the capsule. PF is a linear polymer prepared from phloroglucinol carboxylic acid. The viscosity of the PF solution can reach a high level of 9×10 −5 m 2 /s without gelation while resorcinol/formaldehyde (RF) gelates at ~3–4×10 −5 m 2 /s. Using the viscous PF solution, capsule with a 17 µm gel shell was fabricated. This thickness satisfies the specification of the first phase of Fast Ignition Realization Experiment (FIREX-I) at Osaka University. When PF gel was extracted to remove the organic solvent, shrinkage of 9% occurred. The final density of the PF aerogel was 145 mg/cm 3 . Both the shell thickness and density can satisfy the specification of FIREX-I. The pore size of the PF aerogel was less than 100 nm while that of RF was 200–500 nm. The SEM showed that PF had particle-like foam structure while RF had fibrous-like foam structure.