Preparation of polymeric nanoscale networks from cylindrical molecular bottlebrushes.
The design and control of polymeric nanoscale network structures at the molecular level remains a challenging issue. Here we construct a novel type of polymeric nanoscale networks with a unique microporous nanofiber unit employing the intra/interbrush carbonyl cross-linking of polystyrene side chains for well-defined cylindrical polystyrene molecular bottlebrushes. The size of the side chains plays a vital role in the tuning of nanostructure of networks at the molecular level. We also show that the as-prepared polymeric nanoscale networks exhibit high specific adsorption capacity per unit surface area because of the synergistic effect of their unique hierarchical porous structures. Our strategy represents a new avenue for the network unit topology and provides a new application for molecular bottlebrushes in nanotechnology.
Materials Science Institute, PCFM Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Dingcai
D
Wu
Alper
A
Nese
Joanna
J
Pietrasik
Yeru
Y
Liang
Hongkun
H
He
Michal
M
Kruk
Liang
L
Huang
Tomasz
T
Kowalewski
Krzysztof
K
Matyjaszewski