Fabrication of ionic liquid modified carbon nanotubes-reinforced phenolic foam, structure-property relationships

Phenol-formaldehyde foams are lightweight polymer composites that are prepared by foaming the resin. The major goal is to reduce the weight of the composite significantly while increasing thermal stability and sorption behaviour.This paper gives information about the characteristics of the reinforced PF foams with (CNT/CNT-IL) by FT-IR spectrum, SEM images, and investigations on the thermal properties by TGA/DSC analysis. BET was used as a tool for porosity analysis and oil sorption of the foams is also investigated. According to the TGA data, adding nano-silica and CNT/CNT-IL to PF foams improves thermal stability. The sorption experiments for unmodified and modified foams with nano-silica, and CNT/CNT-IL reveal that increasing the nanofiller content results in higher sorption capacities. Graphical Abstract