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Hierarchical Porous Polystyrene Monoliths from PolyHIPE
Author(s) -
Yang Xinjia,
Tan Liangxiao,
Xia Lingling,
Wood Colin D.,
Tan Bien
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201500235
Subject(s) - monolith , divinylbenzene , mesoporous material , polystyrene , materials science , chemical engineering , porosity , styrene , microporous material , bet theory , copolymer , scanning electron microscope , polymerization , sorption , specific surface area , composite material , catalysis , polymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , adsorption , engineering
Hierarchical porous polystyrene monoliths (HCP‐PolyHIPE) are obtained by hypercrosslinking poly(styrene‐divinylbenzene) monoliths prepared by polymerization of high internal phase emulsions (PolyHIPEs). The hypercrosslinking is achieved using an approach known as knitting which employs formaldehyde dimethyl acetal (FDA) as an external crosslinker. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms that the macroporous structure in the original monolith is retained during the knitting process. By increasing the amount of divinylbenzene (DVB) in PolyHIPE, the BET surface area and pore volume of the HCP‐PolyHIPE decrease, while the micropore size increases. BET surface areas of 196–595 m 2 g −1 are obtained. The presence of micropores, mesopores, and macropores is confirmed from the pore size distribution. With a hierarchical porous structure, the monoliths reveal comparable gas sorption properties and potential applications in oil spill clean‐up.