The influence of different porogens with halogen substituents on the pore structure of polydivinylbenzene beads

Polydivinylbenzene (PDVB) beads with high surface area and porosity were prepared via suspension polymerization in the presence of solvents with halogen substituents as porogens. The porogens employed in the present work were p-dichlorobenzene, chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, benzyl chloride, and tetrachloroethane. The porogens were used in a 1/1 volume ratio with divinylbenzene (DVB). As predicted from previous knowledge of porogen with halogen substituents possessing strong capacity to construct porosity, the surface area of PDVB beads prepared with the above porogens reached 647.1–744.6 m2 g−1, which mainly depended on the difference of solubility parameter of the porogens and PDVB networks. The smaller the difference, the larger the surface area of PDVB beads was. Overall, research results of the present study indicated that in comparison with other types of porogen, solvent with halogen substituent could generate larger surface area and construct higher porosity in PDVB beads.