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Solvent Effects during the Flash-Freezing Fabrication of Mesoporous Polystyrenes

MDR Open Deposited

A polymer solution can be flash-frozen to prepare homopolymers with mesoporous structures in a template-free manner. The flash-freezing method is derived from the ice-templating or freeze-casting method. Herein, we comprehensively investigated the effects of 13 good solvents for polystyrene as well as the polystyrene concentration on the fabrication process. Solvents with high boiling-point-to-melting-point ratios yielded uniformly sized mesoporous polystyrenes at polymer concentrations ≥20 wt %. Such solvents provided a high specific surface area (328 m2/g) and a large mesopore volume (1.78 g/cm3) at the optimal polystyrene concentration. Solvents with medium-boiling-point-to-melting-point ratios formed bimodal mesopores, while a low polystyrene concentration gave hierarchical structures composed of mesopores and macropores. These results provide an understanding of the mechanism associated with the formation of mesopores and enable control over the desired mesopore morphology.

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  • 26/04/2022
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  • Accepted manuscript
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  • 10/05/2023
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