Polymerized high internal‐phase emulsions: Properties and interaction with water

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The synthesis and characterization of novel polymerized high internalphase emulsions (polyHIPE) materials are described. Homogeneous, highly porous, low-density, open-cell crosslinked copolymers were prepared by polymerizing the continuous phase of HIPE containing styrene and varying amounts of 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate. The glass transition temperatures (T g s) of the homopolymers were similar to the literature values, but the copolymer T g s were lower than expected. These results indicate that the copolymer composition is richer in 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate than the feed composition. The homopolymer moduli, calculated from the foam moduli, were similar to the literature values. The influence of composition and surface treatment on the water absorbed by the foams was investigated. For example, washing a polyHIPE based on poly(ethylhexyl acrylate) in water at 70°C increased water absorption because of the removal of the residual salt. Adding a fluorinated comonomer to the HIPE reduced hydrophilicity and, thus, water absorption.

PolyHIPE: IPNs, hybrids, nanoscale porosity, silica monoliths and ICP-based sensors

“…The use of polymers as absorbents for the removal of contaminants from water is being investigated [4,5]. PolyHIPE, with their porous structure, have demonstrated advantageous structural properties and absorbency for use as absorbents [6][7][8][9][10]. PolyHIPE have also been used in ion exchange systems [11,12] and as heat resistant structural foams [13][14][15][16].…”

“…The polyHIPE synthesis has been described in detail elsewhere [9,10,23,29]. Briefly, the comonomers and emulsifier were stirred in a beaker for 5 min with a magnetic stirrer.…”

Carbons with a hierarchical porous structure through the pyrolysis of hypercrosslinked emulsion-templated polymers

“…One approach to enhancing the porosity is adding a porogen to the external phase. Organic solvents were used as porogens to enhance the porosity in polyHIPEs from W/O HIPEs [34,37,39,40] and water acts as a porogen in polyHIPEs from oil-in-water (O/W) HIPEs [41]. The extent of porosity enhancement depended upon the solvating power of the solvent and upon the solvent's ability to act as a cosurfactant, reducing the void size and wall thickness.…”

Porous interpenetrating network hybrids synthesized within high internal phase emulsions

“…3). There is a small band at 3440 cm À1 in the spectrum of H-0 that is associated with residual emulsifier that is not removed by extraction [5]. This small band appears in all the hybrid polyHIPE.…”