Abstract
In this review, the preparation of porous copolymer resin (PCR) materials via suspension polymerization with variable properties are described by tuning the polymerization reaction, using solvents which act as porogens, to yield microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous materials. The porogenic properties of solvents are related to traditional solubility parameters which yield significant changes in the surface area, porosity, pore volume, and morphology of the polymeric materials. The mutual solubility characteristics of the solvents, monomer units, and the polymeric resins contribute to the formation of porous materials with tunable pore structures and surface areas. The importance of the initiator solubility, surface effects, the temporal variation of solvent composition during polymerization, and temperature effects contribute to the variable physicochemical properties of the PCR materials. An improved understanding of the factors governing the mechanism of formation for PCR materials will contribute to the development and design of versatile materials with tunable properties for a wide range of technical applications.
Highlights
Porous copolymer resin (PCR) materials are synthesized via suspension polymerization with variable textural properties by tuning the polymerization reaction with solvents which act as porogens
The changes in physicochemical properties are attributed to the mutual solubility characteristics of the solvents, monomer units, and the polymeric resins
porous copolymer resins (PCR) materials with opposite characteristics are found for solvents with poor immiscibility and solubility
Summary
Porous copolymer resins (PCR) have been used in various applications including sorption [1,2,3], solid supports in catalysis [4,5], chemical separations [6], ion-exchange [7,8], chromatography [7,8] and other applications. The usage of PCR materials is related to the unique physicochemical properties and the porous structural features of the polymer resins. This review will focus on the phase separation technique where vinyl and acrylic PCR-based materials are synthesized from acrylates, styrene, divinylbenzene, and vinyl pyridine via suspension polymerization, in the presence of single and/or multi-component solvent porogens [2,4,6,7,10,11,12,13]. The term “pore-forming agents” [9,10,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23] is sometimes used instead of “porogens”
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