| Abstract: | Ordered silica/polystyrene composites were prepared via radical polymerization in silica colloidal crystal templates, and ordered macroporous polymers were accordingly obtained after removing the silica templates. The confinement effect of the templates on the polymers in the composites was investigated. NMR results indicated that the polystyrenes formed both inside and outside the template were atactic. The polystyrene inside the template possessed a higher molecular weight and a narrower molecular weight distribution than the bulk one outside the template. The glass transition temperature of the confined polystyrene increased significantly with decreasing silica sphere size of the templates, and so did the contraction of polymer pores. The smaller the silica sphere size of the templates, the more remarkable is the confinement, which could be explained by entropic confinement of the polymer chains within a fixed inorganic meso‐framework (T. P. Russell, Science 2001 , 293, 446). |
