Silica, polymer membrane assembly with

A gel polymer membrane based on P(MMA-AN-VAc) has been prepared by emulsion polymerization and phase inversion, and exhibits low crystallinity and Tg. Its ionic conductivity at room temperature is 3.48 x 10 g/cm, and its electrochemically stable voltage is above 5.0 V (vs. LP/Li). By further adding fumed silica, the semicrystalline state is changed into an amorphous porous structure. When 10 wt% fumed silica is added, the porosity of the polymer increases with an even distribution of pores. This intercoimected porous structure can improve the electrolyte retention ability and increase the ionic conductivity of the gel polymer from 3.48 x 10 g/cm to 5.13 x 10 3 S/cm. At the same time, the thermal and electrochemical stability of the membrane and the cycling performance of the assembled battery are improved. 

Recently, the LbL technique has been extended from conventional nonporous substrates to macroporous substrates, such as 3DOM materials [58,59], macroporous membranes [60-63], and porous calcium carbonate microparticles [64,65], to prepare porous PE-based materials. LbL-assembly of polyelectrolytes can also be performed on the surface of MS particles preloaded with enzymes [66,67] or small molecule drugs [68], and, under appropriate solution conditions, within the pores of MS particles to generate polymer-based nanoporous spheres following removal of the silica template [69]. 

The porous membrane templates described above do exhibit three-dimensionality, but with limited interconnectedness between the discrete tubelike structures. Porous structures with more integrated pore—solid architectures can be designed using templates assembled from discrete solid objects or su-pramolecular structures. One class of such structures are three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (or 3-DOM) solids, which are a class of inverse opal structures. The design of 3-DOM structures is based on the initial formation of a colloidal crystal composed of monodisperse polymer or silica spheres assembled in a close-packed arrangement. The interconnected void spaces of the template, 26 vol % for a face-centered-cubic array, are subsequently infiltrated with the desired material. 

---