Fabrication of a homogeneous large‐volume polymethacrylate monolith: A thermal mixing approach

Abstract

To date, the reported works relating to the utilization of monolith in multi‐omics applications are mostly limited to analytical scale due to limited progress in the development of large‐scale monolith. In the case of polymethacrylate monolith, the up‐scaling progress has been hampered by issues pertaining to excessive internal heat build‐up as a function of poor heat transfer which leads to defects in pore homogeneity and often results in cracking of the adsorbent. Herein, this article presents the proof of concept of a thermal mixing method to address the impediments of heat build‐up in monolith up‐scaling. In this method, the upsurge of heat was alleviated by modulating the heat input into and out of the monolith mixture throughout the course of bulk free radical polymerization. The resulting 150 mL polymethacrylate monolith showed about 56.3% reduction in peak thermal build‐up and featured homogeneous pores throughout the adsorbent. This research has put forward an interesting concept of minimizing the intensity of thermal build‐up. The overall outcome generated from this research is encouraging for heat‐based monolith upscaling.