A simple porous gel synthesis method is proposed in this paper. We found th
at the sequential modification of conventional radical polymerization gives
rise to pore formation in acrylamide gels and investigated the parameters
that are responsible for controlling the number and the size of pores. Pore
formation is dominated by the amount of polymerization initiator (ammonium
persulfate), accelerator (N, N, N', N'-tetramethylethylenediamine) and pol
ymerization temperature. The initiator works as a pore nucleus. The acceler
ator helps the pore growth. However, temperature control is the easiest and
the most effective way to create a number of large pores. Especially if th
e pregel solution is heated to or above 80 degrees C, the pore formation is
effectively promoted resulting in an increase in the number of pores and t
heir size. Increase in the volume fraction of macro pores was found to resu
lt in the increase in the diffusion coefficients of the solution flowing th
rough gels. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.