Tunable Polymer Micelles as Template Directing Growth of MOFs Crystals in Surfactant‐Free Emulsion to Fabricate Chitosan‐Based Copolymer/ZIF‐8 Nanostructure

An amphiphilic chitosan‐g‐poly N‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl) methacrylamide (CS‐g‐PDMAPMA, CSP) was proposed and synthesized by reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT), and further employed as emulsifier to construct a surfactant‐free emulsion. The morphology of micelles in surfactant‐free emulsion was regulated by adjusting the oil‐water ratio and concentration of amphiphilic copolymer. Subsequently, polymer micelles served as templates to direct the assembly of ZIF‐8 crystals in the surfactant‐free emulsion to fabricate polymer/ZIF‐8 composite materials (ZIF‐8@CSP) with various structures. Specifically, ZIF‐8@CSP with various architectures such as spheres, rods, cubes, leaf‐shaped flakes, cross‐flowers and wrinkled cubes were obtained by varying the concentration of CSP, the addition sequence of ZIF‐8 precursors and the ratio of oil‐water.