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Creating Honeycomb Structures in Porous Polymers by Osmotic Transport
Author(s) -
Quell Aggeliki,
Heitkam Sascha,
Drenckhan Wiebke,
Stubenrauch Cosima
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201600834
Subject(s) - honeycomb , polymerization , materials science , polymer , monomer , porous medium , porosity , honeycomb structure , surface tension , work (physics) , composite material , polymer science , nanotechnology , chemical physics , chemical engineering , chemistry , physics , thermodynamics , engineering
Understanding why honeycombs are shaped the way they are has moved biologists, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians alike.[1][L. F. Tóth, 1964], [2][D. Weaire, 1994], [3][C. W. W. Pirk, 2004], [4][H. R. Hepburn, 2007], [5][B. L. Karihaloo, 2013] It was only recently that the honeycombs′ shape “at birth” was included in the ongoing discussions: at birth, the cells are spherical but then transform into the well‐known hexagons. It was proposed that a flow of wax—driven by surface tension effects—is the reason for this transformation.[5][B. L. Karihaloo, 2013] Our recent work on synthetic polymer foams with honeycomb‐like structures points towards a very different mechanism. Just like in honeycomb cells, we observe that a spherical “initial state” transforms into a hexagon‐shaped “final state” during polymerization. We have experimental evidence that a concentration gradient arises during polymerization, which transports monomers such that the spherical template becomes a honeycomb structure with walls of homogeneous thickness. The knowledge about this mechanism suggests promising strategies for the development of lightweight materials with optimized mechanical properties.