Macroporous polymers prepared via frozen UV polymerization of the emulsion-templates stabilized by a low amount of surfactant

Macroporous polymers based on high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) possess tunable porous structures and device shapes, and these characteristics make it possible for it to be applied in many fields. However, such materials also demonstrate undesirable properties, such as their brittleness and chalkiness, due to a great amount of surfactant required (5.0–50.0%, relative to the external phase) to realize the transformation from HIPEs to macroporous polymers (polyHIPEs). Herein, O/W HIPEs stabilized by a small amount (as low as 0.1 wt%, relative to the external phase) of commercial surfactant were prepared by magnetic stirring and subsequently homogenizing, and well-defined polyHIPEs were obtained through frozen UV polymerization of these HIPEs. In this process, the prepared HIPE was squeezed out by an injector and frozen at once, which effectively prevented the coalescence of internal phase. Then a 365 nm UV light was utilized to initiate the polymerization and the temperature was kept at −20 °C in order to avoid the melting of the frozen HIPE. After the polymerization, samples, having a typical polyHIPE structure, were obtained. Besides, the original monomer, surfactant and the oil (internal phase) were respectively replaced, and well-defined polyHIPEs could still be obtained. All the results suggested that frozen UV polymerization of HIPEs was an effective and universal approach to produce polyHIPEs with a low amount of surfactant.