Herein, monodisperse and nanoporous poly­(bismaleimide-co-divinylbenzene) microspheres (PBMs) are fabricated via one-pot self-stabilized precipitation polymerization of 2,2′-bis­[4-(4-maleimidophenoxy)­phenyl]­propane and divinylbenzene in the absence of any dispersants and templates. The particle size, specific surface area, and pore structure of the PBMs could be effectively tailored by tuning the monomer feed ratio and solvent composition. Under optimum reaction conditions, uniform PBMs with a particle size of 1.37 μm were obtained, which exhibit a maximum Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area (556.25 m2/g) and pore volume (0.48 cm3/g). This novel fabrication method for PBMs has significant merits including a simple process free of additives and high efficiency. Furthermore, PBMs loaded with Pd nanoparticles (PBMs@Pd) were easily synthesized via in situ chemical reduction and used as a catalytic microreactor due to their abundant pore structure. As an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by sodium borohydride (NaBH4), the as-prepared PBMs@Pd exhibited excellent catalytic activity with a high turnover frequency value (967.92 h–1) and excellent recyclability. This facile strategy opens up new horizons for the synthesis of porous microspheres with a well-controlled morphology and tunable pore structure, which have great application prospects in the fields of catalysis, adsorption, and energy storage.

Ionogels have attracted intensive attentions as promising flexible conductive materials. However, simultaneous integration of excellent mechanical properties, high conductivity, outstanding self‐healing ability, and strong adhesiveness is still challenging. Here, an ingenious composition design is proposed to address this long‐standing challenge of ionogels. High‐performance PEI/PAA/CMC ionogels, consist of a loosely cross‐linked poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) network, dynamically cross‐linked network based on polycationic polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyanionic PAA, and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) reinforcing filler, are formed in a deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of choline chloride and urea. Benefiting from the loose PAA network and dynamic noncovalent interactions, ionogels with both highly enhanced mechanical robustness and excellent conductivity are obtained at high loading of DES, overcoming the strength‐ductility/conductivity trade‐off dilemma. By adjusting PEI/PAA mass ratio, the tensile strength and strain of PEI/PAA/CMC ionogels are effectively controlled in a wide range of 0.15–7.9 MPa and 232–1161%, respectively, while maintaining the desirable conductivity of ≈10−4 S cm−1. Besides, healed tensile strength over 2.1 MPa and adhesion strength up to 0.2 MPa are achieved for the PEI0.06/PAA0.25/CMC0.01 ionogel. The delicate design strategy provides a feasible approach to prepare ionogels with outstanding comprehensive performance, which have potential for applications in flexible electronics.

Stretchable ionogels have been intensively investigated for the development of flexible and wearable sensors. Integration of excellent mechanical properties, high conductivity, reliable adhesiveness, remarkable self-healing ability, favorable transparency and biocompatibility...

The water-soluble polymers with a well-defined branched structure have received intensive attention due to their better solubility and shearing resistance than conventional linear polymers. In this contribution, a novel type of water-soluble macromolecular photoinitiators (macro-PIs) was specially designed and synthesized, which can serve as efficient multifunctional initiators for the preparation of water-soluble branched polymers. Photoinitiator groups were incorporated into the side chain of poly­(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSM) via esterification of anhydride groups with 2-Hydroxy-4′-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-2-methylpropiophenone (Irgacure 2959). The as-formed esterification products were further hydrolyzed to obtain water-soluble macro-PIs, designated as PSM-2959. The chemical structure of PSM-2959 was characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), and water-soluble macro-PIs with controllable content of photoinitiator groups were successfully obtained. Furthermore, photoinduced polymerization of acrylamide was performed using PSM-2959 as photoinitiators, and the experimental results demonstrated that PSM-2959 displayed an excellent photoinitiating property. More importantly, the as-prepared polyacrylamide with a branched structure showed good solubility and unique rheological property. The present work provided a facile and scalable method for the synthesis of macro-PIs with excellent water solubility and remarkable photoinitiating efficiency, which have potential applications as effective photoinitiators for preparing water-soluble polymers with a well-defined branched structure.

Branched polyacrylamides (PAMs) have shown tremendous potential in wastewater treatment, papermaking, and oil drilling due to their unique molecular structure, remarkable shear stability, and effective flocculability. Efficient approaches for their industrial-scale production have attracted increasing attention. Herein, we report a facile, scalable, highly efficient, and cost-effective strategy for the production of branched PAMs through UV polymerization of acrylamide (AM) initiated with a novel water-soluble macro-photoinitiator. Through precipitation copolymerization of AM and 2-hydroxy-1-[4-(2-acryloyloxyethoxy)­phenyl]-2-methyl-1-propanone (M2959), poly­(AM-co-M2959)­s bearing photoinitiator moieties on the backbone were successfully synthesized, which showed excellent water solubility and high photoinitiation efficiency. Most importantly, both the branching degree and main-chain length of the branched PAMs were controllable, given that the molar mass and photoinitiating group content of poly­(AM-co-M2959)­s could be effectively controlled by adjusting the monomer feed ratio of AM/M2959. The rheological properties of the resultant branched PAMs were characterized in detail, and excellent water solubility and shear resistance were observed, confirming the well-defined branched structure of the as-prepared PAMs. Due to their facile synthesis, simplicity of operation, and high photoinitiation efficiency, these novel macro-photoinitiators have great potential as a versatile platform for the preparation of various branched polymers containing different functional groups (not limited to branched PAMs).