Silicon polyHIPES (High Internal Phase Emulsions) via reactive emulsion stabilization

Abstract eng:
We show here how macro-cellular polymers may be obtained by solidification of the continuous phase of a PDMS (polydimethyl- siloxane) emulsion, which contains tightly packed PEG (polyethyleneglycol) drops of sub-millimetric dimensions. Coalescence is prohibited by a reactive blending approach which creates a visco-elastic skin around the PEG drops upon contact with the PDMS. We correlate the properties of the PEG/PDMS interface with the emulsion stability in order to optimise the formulation. This is then used with millifiuidic methods to obtain explicit control over the structural properties of the final cellular polymer in terms of size, organisation and volume fraction of the cells.

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