Fabrication And Functionalization Of Polymer Microtubes Using Supramolecular Gels As Templates

Supramolecular gels have evolved into a class of functional nanomaterials with extensive application potentials recently, as well as templates for fabricating inorganic nanomaterials thanks to their structural versatility. In this dissertation, we attended to realize the fabrication and functionalization of polymer microtubes, based on the N,N'-methylenediacrylamide (MBA) supramolecular gels as templates.1. In the first part, a novel method—template transforming technology for fabricating polymer microtube was developed. The self-assembled temple was transformed into polymer microtubes directly. Under the Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Ploymerization (RAFT), MBA monomers constructing the supramolecular gel were polymerized directly into polymer microtubes via"dissolution and polymerization approach". During this process, the MBA gel not only acted as the template, but also provided materials for the microtubes. SEM and TEM characterization of the products reveals their tubular structure. The surface and internal elemental analysis helps us to understand the structure of the polymer microtubes.2. In the second parts, the functionalization of polymer microtubes was studied. A simple and general strategy is described for preparing network supported catalyst through a one-pot synthetic procedure using the MBA supramolecular gel as template. This procedure directly attaches ligand to support during fabricating the support. Using this strategy, supported CuBr/di-(2-picolyl)amine catalyst with U-shaped fibrillar network was prepared and used in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate. XPS and SEM characterization of the catalyst revealed homogeneous distribution of the ligand, sufficient reactive sites, adequate mechanical strength and macroporosity. The polymerization results demonstrated high activity and reusability of such catalyst.