Optical Properties and Model of the Electronic and Spatial Structure of Hypercrosslinked Polystyrene

Abstract

A number of hypercrosslinked polystyrene networks are studied. The networks are obtained via additional crosslinking of granules of styrene copolymer with 0.5% divinylbenzene (0.3–0.5 mm) and microgranules with 1% divinylbenzene (3.5 µm) using monochlorodimethyl ether to densities of crosslinking from 60 to 500%. It is found that as the degree of crosslinking grows, the absorption in the electronic spectrum of the polymer extends to the visible region, and the granules change color (toward as dark as black); this phenomenon is much less expressed for microgranules and milled materials. For a consistent explanation of these two observations, assumptions are made about the appearance and increase in the contrast of density fluctuations of a tracery hypercrosslinked network and light scattering on such micro-inhomogeneities in the volume of particles of the compared series of polymers.