Nanostructured carbonaceous material with continuous pores obtained from reaction-induced phase separation of miscible polymer blends Original Research Article

Reaction-induced phase separation occurred in the curing process of miscible blends of phenolic resin and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and, a co-continuous nanostructure composed of phenolic resin rich phase and PMMA rich phase was obtained. The cured phenolic resin having continuous nanopores was obtained by extraction of PMMA. The sample was thermally treated to obtain a carbonaceous material with continuous nanopores. While the continuous pores in cresol novolac were disappeared, those in phenol novolac, phenol resol and cresol resol resins were maintained to some extent though their shapes were slightly changed. The sizes of continuous pores obtained were from some tens to some hundreds of nanometers depending on the types of phenolic resins. The samples treated at various temperatures after extraction of PMMA had a relatively high specific surface area. The results of TG and TG/MS measurements suggested that whether or not the nanoporous structures are retained is related to the main products of the thermal decomposition of each phenolic resin.