Here we demonstrate a novel technique for the fabrication of functional porous polymer membranes by vapor phase polymerization.1 The porous polymer membranes are formed by simultaneous solid monomer deposition and polymerization, where the solid monomer serves as the template for polymerization. After the template is partially polymerized, sublimation of the unreacted monomer results in a porous polymer membrane that maintains the morphology of the monomer template. The resulting membranes exhibit dual-scale porosity, where large-scale pores form during the deposition and small-scale pores form upon sublimation of the solid monomer. The morphology of the membrane can be tuned by varying the temperature of the substrate.  Three-dimensional growth of pillar-like microstructures occurs at low substrate temperatures, while two-dimensional and web-like growth occur at higher substrate temperatures. These membranes can be deposited onto a wide range of substrates, including porous substrates such as filter paper.2 We also further explore the deposition and conformality of porous polymer on curved and structured three-dimensional surfaces. References:[1] Seidel, S.; Kwong, P.; Gupta, M. Simultaneous Polymerization and Solid Monomer Deposition for the Fabrication of Polymer Membranes with Dual-Scale Porosity. Macromolecules 2013 , 46, 2976-2983.[2] Kwong, P.; Seidel, S.; Gupta, M. Solventless Fabrication of Porous-on-Porous Materials. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2013 , 5, 9714-9718.

Functional porous polymer membranes grown by vapor phase polymerization

248th National Meeting (2014)

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