Dispersion Polymerization in an Elastomeric Solvent

Abstract

Polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) provides a powerful route to generate structured polymeric materials by coupling chemical conversion with thermodynamic demixing. PIPS in liquid-state systems underlies dispersion polymerization, serving as a cornerstone technique for microparticle production, yet is constrained by solvent compatibility and limited range of morphologies. Here, we establish an elastically mediated PIPS regime that bridges these two limits by conducting controlled polymerization within a deformable elastomeric network. This approach, termed Dispersion Polymerization in an Elastomeric Solvent (DiPolES), serves as a solid-state analogue of dispersion polymerization in which an elastomeric network simultaneously serves as solvent and physical stabilizer. Using photoiniferter-mediated polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) within poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) elastomeric solvent, DiPolES enables robust fabrication of elastomeric composites containing uniform PMMA microparticles with tunable size (0.85 to 3 μm) and shape (spheroidal and ellipsoidal). The strategy is generalizable beyond the PDMS/MMA system and is applicable to diverse monomers, such as acrylonitrile and 2-vinyl pyridine, which can be extracted from the elastomeric solvent, enabling high-yield production of microparticles. Real-time imaging and compositional analysis reveal that particle formation proceeds through rapid nucleation at low monomer conversion, followed by growth accompanied by cavitation of the surrounding network. Monomer loading governs the particle size, while solvent elasticity modulates the transition from isolated uniform spheroids to heterogeneous clusters. Interestingly, applying uniaxial strain during DiPolES enables production of ellipsoidal particles without any post-processing.