Water-Dispersible, Responsive, and Carbonizable Hairy Microporous Polymeric Nanospheres

作者:Mai, Weicong; Sun, Bin; Chen, Luyi; Xu, Fei; Liu, Hao; Liang, Yeru; Fu, Ruowen; Wu, Dingcai*; Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof
来源:Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2015, 137(41): 13256-13259.
DOI:10.1021/jacs.5b08978

摘要

Multifunctionalization of microporous polymers is highly desirable but remains a significant challenge, considering that the current microporous polymers are generally hydrophobic and nonresponsive to different environmental stimuli and difficult to be carbonized without damage of their well-defined nano-morphology. Herein, we demonstrate a facile and versatile method to fabricate water-dispersible, pH/temperature responsive and readily carbonizable hairy microporous polymeric nanospheres based on combination of the hyper-cross-linking chemistry with the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The hyper-cross-linking creates a highly microporous core, whereas the SI-ATRP provides diverse functionalities by surface grafting of hairy functional blocks. The as-prepared materials present multifunctional properties, including sensitive response to pH/temperature, high adsorption capacity toward adsorbates from aqueous solution, and valuable transformation into well-defined microporous carbon nanospheres because of hybrid of carbonizable core and thermo-decomposable protection shell. We hope this strategy could promote the development of both functional microporous polymers and advanced hairy nanoparticles for multipurpose applications.