Effect of solvent type on porous structure of emulsion templated poly(glycerol sebacate)-methacrylate

Polymerised emulsion templating is a common method for the fabrication of biomaterials with interconnected porous structures. Here, we present the fabrication of poly(glycerol sebacate)-methacrylate (PGSM) porous structures via emulsion templating. The mixing speed and photoinitiator concentration for emulsions were optimised (350 rpm, 16 wt%, respectively). The resulting emulsion separation before/after mixing and pore morphology of PGSM emulsions was then assessed by altering the emulsion formulation using four different types of diluting solvent (chloroform, dichloromethane, dichloroethane, toluene) for the first time. By altering the type and volume of solvents, the overall pore morphology of polymerised emulsions was tuned.