Manufacture And Structural Control Of Porous Ceramic From Polymer Templates

Macro-porous titania monoliths were prepared via sol-gel method using polymer foam as templates. The polymer foam polymerized via concentrated emulsion polymerization was immerged in a solution of titanium (IV) isopropoxide in 2-propanol, which underwent a sol-gel process. The organic components were subsequently removed by calcinations. The effects of various parameters, including the nature of the monomer, the volume fraction of dispersed phase of the concentrated emulsion, and concentration of the sol-gel solution were investigated. SEM micrographs of the macro-porous titania monoliths thus obtained showed that the porous structure of the final material can be effectively controlled.In the concentrated emulsion polymerization, the volume fraction of the dispersed phase (φ) was greater than 0.74 (which represents the volume fraction of the most compact arrangements of spheres of the same size).