Morphology control of aromatic polymers in concert with polymerization

Morphology control methods of aromatic polymers in concert with polymerization reaction are described in this review. Many attractive methods have been developed including reaction-induced phase separation of oligomers, epitaxial polymerization, shear-induced chain orientation during gelation, template-based polymerization, suspension polycondensation, solid-state polycondensation and liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation and so on. Among them, the reaction-induced phase separation of oligomers, in which there are two modes of crystallization and liquid-liquid phase separation, possess practically high potentiality to create novel polymer materials since it can control not only the morphology but also the molecular chain orientation. Ultimate goal is the embodiment of the nature system in a flask, that is, the control of the materials from primary structures to super structures. The morphology control methods by using polymerization reaction afford the valuable methodology for the three-dimensional structure architecture.