Miniemulsion template polymerization to prepare a sub-micrometer porous polymeric monolith with an inter-connected structure and very high mechanical strength

Abstract

In this work, a miniemulsion template method was proposed to prepare a porous polymeric monolith with an inter-connected structure. The preparation of a porous monolith with sub-micrometer pore structure was realized and showed great potential to prepare a nanoscale porous monolith with an inter-connected structure. A medium internal phase miniemulsion was employed as a template to prepare the polymeric monolith with an open-cellular structure. The porosity was decreased to 47%, which increased the mechanical strength of the porous monolith more than 40 times compared with those prepared from conventional high internal phase emulsion polymerization methods.