Porous polymer matrix for capture of metal ions from sea water Amber T Raja 1 , Eugene Bari 2 , Christopher Serpell 1 , Simon J Holder 1* 1 School of Chemistry and Forensic Science, University of Kent, UK, 2 Ecomar Propulsion, UK Polymerised high internal phase emulsions (polyHIPEs) are highly porous emulsion templated polymer matrices some which have the ability to absorb external material into their pores. [1] They are typically synthesised by the dropwise addition of an aqueous phase to a constantly stirring phase of monomers including crosslinkers and surfacant, resulting in an emulsion similar to mayonnaise. This is then cured (i.e. monomers are polymerised) and dried to remove the internal phase, forming an emulsion templated polymer with sponge like morphology consisting of porous voids. [2] PolyHIPES are of increasing interest recently due to applications as diverse as the degradation of chemical warfare agents or use in food packaging. [3] We are interested in using polyHIPEs to extract high value metal ions from seawater. Our research focuses on whether a polyHIPE consisting of a similar monomer crosslinked with divinylbenzene could provide a more environmentally sustainable approach to the isolation of valuable metals. References 1. Silverstein, M. S. (2014). PolyHIPEs: Recent advances in emulsion-templated porous polymers. Progress in Polymer Science, 39(1), 199–234. 2. Silverstein, M. S., & Cameron, N. R. (2010). PolyHIPEs - Porous Polymers from High Internal Phase Emulsions. In Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3. Wright, A. J., Main, M. J., Cooper, N. J., Blight, B. A., & Holder, S. J. (2017). Poly High Internal Phase Emulsion for the Immobilization of Chemical Warfare Agents. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9(37), 31335–31339.
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