Microfluidic Synthesis of Macroporous Polymer Particles and Development of Multifunctional Porous Polymer Hybrids

This thesis presents a preparation of porous polymer materials. The first half of this thesis focuses on the microfluidic synthesis of macroporous copolymer microparticles. Macroporous copolymer microparticles have a broad range of applications such as ion exchange resins and sorbents, catalyst supports, and carriers of biologically active species. Many of these applications require precise control of the dimensions of microparticles in the range from 50 to 100 μm and predetermined size of pores. First, this thesis reports semicontinuous photoinitiated microfluidic synthesis of macroporous copolymer microparticles with the designated dimensions and a range of internal structures. A synthesis of macroporous polymer microparticles under certain conditions produces microparticles with a smooth nonporous “skin” layer. This effect limits the applications of porous microbeads by preventing solute molecules to permeate the dense particle surface and reach particle’s porous interior. Second, this thesis reports a straightforward method that was used to suppress the formation of the “skin” on the surface of macroporous copolymers. The second half of this thesis focuses on the synthesis and applications of porous polymer hybrid materials (PHM). PHMs carrying inorganic nanoparticles on the surface of pores have important applications in chemical and biological sensing, in chromatography and in heterogeneous catalysis. Particularly, this thesis describes the results of the experimental study of the preparation of PHM carrying gold nanorods (NRs) on the surface of pores. The material was prepared by utilizing two effects occurring concurrently: the photoinitiated polymerization-induced phase separation in the polymer–solvent mixture and the migration of the NRs to the interface between the polymer and the porogen solvent. We show that the enrichment of the interface with the NRs is enhanced at high polymerization rates leading to rapid phase separation. By contrast, a more rapid increase in viscosity achieved at high polymerization rates does not have a significant effect on the segregation of NRs to the surface of the pores. Finally, the PHM coated with gold nanorods was utilized for the simultaneous detection of different analytes using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy.;Key words: microfluidics, microreactors, microparticles, polymer particles, porous polymers, nanorods, nanoparticles, polymer hybrid material, SERS, fluorescence microscopy.