Formation of heterogeneous polymer structures during photoinduced crosslinking of oligo(ester acrylates) in the presence of a nonpolymerizable component

Abstract

The morphology of polymers prepared through the photoinduced polymerization of oligo(carbonate dimethacrylate) in the presence of different nonpolymerizable additives (methanol, dinonyl phthalate, hexane, toluene, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride) is studied via the method of atomic force microscopy. Depending on the nature and concentration of an additive, the photoinduced polymerization of the above composite systems is shown to be accompanied by microphase separation and formation of a porous polymeric material. In the case of methanol, homogeneous porous structures with characteristic pore sizes of several hundred nanometers are formed. In the case of dinonyl phthalate, the characteristic pore sizes lie below 100 nm. The synthesized porous polymers can sorb both polar and nonpolar solvents. The photoinduced polymerization of an oligomer in the medium of toluene, benzene, or carbon tetrachloride leads to the formation of polymer nanoparticles whose dimensions are controlled by the nature of a solvent.