Proposed synthesis of ultrahigh surface area hyper-cross-linked nanoparticles by miniemulsion polymerization

PMSE 67

Jonathan D. B. Fay, j.d.b.fay@dur.ac.uk and Neil R. Cameron, n.r.cameron@durham.ac.uk. Department of Chemistry, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
There is a general interest in the synthesis of porous nanoparticles for a variety of applications, such as filtration and gas adsorption. Outlined here is a possible route toward the synthesis of near monodisperse, ultrahigh surface area vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) / divinylbenzene (DVB) porous polymer nanoparticles of <50 nm diameter. The synthesis requires first the production of near monodisperse, non-porous, gel-like precursor particles of ~ 25 nm diameter by miniemulsion polymerisation, stabilised by the cationic surfactants dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). After swelling in dichloroethane (DCE) the methyl chloride moieties are cross-linked via Friedel-Crafts alkylation in the presence of FeCl3 to yield microporous particles of ~500 nm diameter with surface areas of up to ~1000 m2 g-1. Further development of the synthesis should yield ultrahigh surface area hyper-cross-linked particles of diameters comparable to the gel-precursor particles.