Microporous polymers can be used for gas storage, separation processes, catalysis, and water purification and the carbonization of microporous polymers can be used to generate porous carbons for a range of "green" energy applications including supercapacitors, batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. In many such applications, the presence of a porous hierarchy, from macroporous to microporous, is integral to functionality. PolyHIPEs (PHs, (a) in the figure) are macroporous polymers synthesized within high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs), emulsions in which the dispersed phase occupies over 74% of the volume. Here, polymers with unique and advantageous hierarchical porous architectures were synthesized by hypercrosslinking PHs (PH-X, (b) in the figure and in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) image). The macroporous PH monoliths, synthesized within HIPEs containing styrene, vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC), and divinylbenzene, were hypercrosslinked in a post-synthesis Friedel-Crafts reaction. Hypercrosslinking introduced microporosity, yielding specific surface areas as high as 1652 m<sup>2</sup>/g. The synthesis of interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) PHs introduced mesoporosity, enhancing the hierarchical porosity. These microporous PHs were evaluated for their performance in sorption applications that included exposure to a variety of organic solvents, exposure to a variety of organic vapors, and exposure to aqueous solutions containing organic contaminants (40 mg/g bromoform from an aqueous solution of 220 mg/L). Their performance was superior to the PHs that did not undergo hypercrosslinking and to a commercial activated carbon. Carbons monoliths with similar hierarchical porosities were synthesized through carbonization of the PHs ((c) in the figure) and the PH-Xs ((d) in the figure). The carbonization of a hypercrosslinked, VBC-based PH containing a porogen yielded a microporous carbon with a specific surface area as high as 800 m<sup>2</sup>/g.

Hierarchically porous, hypercrosslinked, emulsion-templated polymers: Water purification and absorption

2019 Fall National Meeting

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