High‐Performance Composite Monolith Synthesized via HKUST‐1 Stabilized HIPEs and Its Adsorptive Properties

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a green and facile method for generating a composite monolith. HKUST‐1 (Pickering emulsifier) and PVA (co‐emulsifier), are used to stabilize supercritical carbon dioxide in water as high internal phase emulsion template to prepare interconnected hydrophilic porous monoliths. The effects of HKUST‐1 contents and CO 2 densities on the performance of MOF/ polyacrylamide (PAM) polyHIPEs are investigated. The as‐synthesized MOF/PAM composites are characterized by FT‐IR, SEM, XRD, and TGA. The SEM patterns show that the composites are interconnected, the void sizes are 10–80 µm, and the interconnected pore throats are approximately 0.5–25 µm. The rheological and DMA measurement results indicate that the viscoelasticity and mechanical properties of the composites greatly improve after HKUST‐1 is embedded. Furthermore, the adsorptive properties of MOF/PAM to bovine serum albumin (BSA) are studied, and the adsorption capacity of MOF/PAM enhances with the increase in HKUST‐1 content. The adsorption capacity of the composite with 7 wt% HKUST‐1 reached 350.4 mg g −1 in 1.0 g L −1 BSA solution.