The Kinetics of Formation of Microporous Polytriazine in Diphenyl Sulfone

This study highlights the value of nonisothermal kinetic methods in selecting temperature conditions for the isothermal preparation of microporous polymeric materials. A dicyanate ester is synthesized and the kinetics of its polymerization in diphenyl sulfone are studied by calorimetry under nonisothermal conditions. The kinetics are analyzed by a model-based approach, using the Kamal model, as well as by a model-free approach, using an advanced isoconversional method. Both approaches correctly predict the time to completion of polymerization at a given temperature. The material prepared independently at the predicted temperature is characterized by electron microscopy and CO(2) adsorption measurements and is confirmed to possess a microporous structure with a multimodal distribution of micropores with two major maxima at ~0.5 and 0.8 nm.