title: Novel polymeric nanocomposites and porous materials prepared using organogels.
abstract: We propose a new method for preparing polymeric nanocomposites and porous materials using self-assembled templates formed by 1,3:2,4-dibenzylidene sorbitol (DBS) organogels. DBS is capable of self-assembling into a 3D nanofibrillar network at relatively low concentrations in some organic solvents to produce organogels. In this study, we induced the formation of such physical cross-linked networks in styrene. Subsequently, we polymerized the styrene in the presence of chemical cross-linkers, divinyl benzene (DVB), with different amounts of DBS using thermal-initiated polymerization. The resulting materials were transparent, homogeneous polystyrene (PS) nanocomposites with both physical and chemical cross-links. The porous polymeric materials were obtained by solvent extraction of the DBS nanofibrils from the PS. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements show that the amounts of DBS and DVB influenced the specific surface area after the removal of the DBS fibrils.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tamkang University, 151 Ying-chuan Road, Tamsui, Taipei 25137, Taiwan. wclai@mail.tku.edu.tw
authors.forename: Wei-Chi
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Shen-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Tseng