Solvothermal synthesis of highly porous polymers and their controllable transition from macro/mesoporosity to meso/microporosity

Reported in this paper is a solvothermal synthesis of highly porous polydivinylbenzene. The nanoporous structures of the resultant polymers could be modulated from macro/mesoporosity to meso/microporosity by simply changing the amount of acetone solvent in the synthesis. A micro-phase separation during the solvothermal process was found to be the key factor for this transition in porous structures. The hierarchically porous polymers prepared here were characterized by N2 physi-sorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and contact angle testing. Experimental results show that these nanoporous polymers have large BET surface areas (up to 420 m2/g), large pore volumes (up to 1.73 cm3/g), and superhydrophobicity due to their highly porous structures, which make these nanoporous materials an excellent candidate for selective removal of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In the adsorption tests, the nanoporous polymers show outstanding adsorptive capacity and very high selectivity to organic compounds, giving a great potential for indoor VOCs removal.

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► Solvothermal synthesis of highly porous polydivinylbenzene.
► The nanoporous nature of the resultant polymers could be modulated simply.
► The key factor for this transition in porous structures is micro-phase separation.
► The nanoporous polymers have large BET surface areas and superhydrophobicity.
► The nanoporous polymers show high adsorptive capacity and selectivity to VOCs.