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Published on: June 18, 2013
Nanostructured polymers prepared using a self-assembled nanofibrillar scaffold as a reverse template.
Wei-Chi Lai1, Shen-Chen Tseng, Shih-Huang Tung
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-2111, USA. wclai@mail.tku.edu.tw
The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B
|May 19, 2009
Summary
Researchers created nanostructured polymers using self-assembled nanofibrils as a scaffold for monomer polymerization. This method yields transparent polystyrene with preserved nanofibrils, which can be extracted to create nanoporous materials.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Self-assembled nanofibrils can serve as templates for creating nanostructured materials.
- 1,3:2,4-Dibenzylidene sorbitol (DBS) forms stable nanofibrillar networks in organic solvents.
- Polystyrene is a versatile polymer with numerous applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for preparing nanostructured polymeric materials using DBS nanofibrils as a scaffold.
- To investigate the polymerization of styrene within a DBS nanofibrillar network.
- To characterize the resulting nanostructured polystyrene and its derived nanoporous material.
Main Methods:
- Formation of DBS nanofibrillar networks in styrene.
- Thermal initiation of free-radical polymerization of styrene within the DBS scaffold.
- Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for visualizing preserved nanofibrils.
- Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis for characterizing porosity.
Main Results:
- Transparent nanostructured polystyrene was successfully synthesized without macroscopic phase separation.
- Intact DBS nanofibrils (10-100 nm diameter) were observed within the polystyrene matrix via AFM.
- Extraction of DBS fibrils resulted in a nanoporous polymer network.
- BET analysis confirmed the porosity of the extracted polymer.
Conclusions:
- Self-assembled DBS nanofibrils provide an effective scaffold for creating nanostructured polystyrene.
- The described method allows for the preservation of nanofibrillar structures within a polymer matrix.
- The resulting nanoporous materials hold potential for applications requiring high surface area and controlled porosity.
