Web Release Date: October 19,
Robust Nanoporous Membranes Templated by a Doubly Reactive Block Copolymer
and
Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Received July 17, 2007
Abstract:
We demonstrated a novel approach to produce robust bicontinuous nanoporous polymer membranes by ring-opening metathesis polymerization of a new norbornene-functional diblock copolymer and dicyclopentadiene followed by selective removal of a chemically etchable polylactide block. Polymerization-induced phase separation from the initial homogeneous tetrahydrofuran solution of all components led to a disordered but cocontinuous structure in the resulting cross-linked plastics. After polylactide removal, the nanoporous (ca. 20 nm pores) membranes exhibited excellent thermal stability and mechanical toughness, high specific surface areas, narrow pore size distributions, and good permeability.
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