Mesoporous Polystyrene Monoliths - Zalusky, A.S.; Olayo-Valles, R.; Taylor, C. J.; Hillmyer, M. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 1519

Mesoporous polystyrene monoliths with 1011 channels/cm2 were prepared from polystyrene-polylactide (PS-PLA) block copolymers. The PS-PLA materials were designed and synthesized such that the ordered-state morphology consisted of hexagonally packed nanocylinders of polylactide in a polystyrene matrix. Macroscopic alignment of this material gave an anisotropic monolith that was subjected to mild degradation conditions leading to the chemical etching of the polylactide. The resulting mesoporous monolith (7.3 mm3), characterized molecularly (SEC and NMR) and morphologically (SAXS and SEM), consisted of a low-density polystyrene monolith containing hexagonally close-packed, oriented, and continuous 22 nm diameter channels. These new mesoporous materials have remarkable potential as hosts for nanomaterial synthesis, size selective catalyst supports, separations, and optoelectronic applications.

Scanning electron micrographs of the nanoporous materials. SEM micrographs of the degraded PS-PLA fractured surface. The white scale bar in the lower left corner is 100 nm.