The first worm-stabilized Pickering high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) system was developed to prepare ultra-light porous monoliths.
This paper reports the first Pickering high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) system stabilized solely by worm-like nanoaggregates. The cross-linked worms were prepared from the dispersion polymerization of benzyl methacrylate (BzMA), with poly(dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate) (PDMA) macro-CTA as the stabilizer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker, through polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). The effects of the internal phase type and volume, as well as the worm concentration on the stability of the resulting Pickering HIPEs were investigated. Furthermore, by adding a small amount of silica nanoparticles or magnetic nanoparticles as the binder in the continuous aqueous phase, followed by freeze-drying, 3D hierarchical porous monoliths of ultralow density were successfully prepared. This work demonstrated that Pickering HIPE templating provides a facile approach for the preparation of ultra-light functional hybrid porous materials, which have good potential in various application areas.