Nanoporous polymers are useful materials for various separations applications. To access such materials we used an approach based on a lamellar diblock polymer that combined a crosslinkable segment with a chemically etchable segment. At temperatures above the order-disorder temperature we were able to kinetically trap the morphology associated with the fluctuating disordered state through a thermally activated crosslinking reaction. After removal of the etchable block, a nanoporous thermoset results. Through a combination of small-angle X-ray scattering, nitrogen sorption, scanning electron microspcopy and electron tomography experiments we demonstrated that the nanoporous structure exhibited a narrow pore size distribution, a high surface area to volume ratio and is bicontinuous over a large sample area. This system combines attractive attributes for many advanced applications including new composite membranes for water purification.

Nanoporous thermosets by crosslinking block polymers in the disordered state

255th National Meeting (2018)

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