Abstract
MOFs are hybrid materials with interesting properties, such as thermal stability and high specific surface area, for catalysis, compound separation or gas purification. However, the result of the synthesis is a crystalline powder, and the shaping of MOFs into porous materials is necessary for a wider application mode outside the batch process. The shaping must be done without the total loss of the MOFs properties. Templating with MOF-stabilized Pickering emulsions is a technique used in the literature to incorporate particles into hierarchical (monolithic) porous materials. In the literature, the final properties of the monoliths are highlighted while the microstructures of the emulsions are rarely described in detail. The study in this thesis consists firstly in the characterization of the microstructural and rheological properties of Pickering emulsions stabilized solely by MOFs particles. The continuous phase of the emulsion is then polymerized to form porous monoliths (polyHIPEs) whose macropores are a replica of the droplets. Hydrodynamic pressure drop measurements show good fluid flow through the pores of the polyHIPEs. However, the shaping process considerably reduces the accessible surface area of the MOFs because the particles are trapped in the polymer. The final step in this study is therefore the optimization of the shaping process. It has been shown that it is possible to increase the accessible surface area of MOFs in polyHIPE while maintaining interconnected macroporosity. To achieve this, the wettability of the particles is adjusted by the adsorption of perfluorinated molecules to make the MOFs more hydrophobic. The adsorption changes the contact angle and the position of the particles at the oil/water interface of the emulsion. In this way, the accessible specific surface area increases through the reactivation of the microporosity of the MOFs in the polyHIPEs when the aqueous phase is polymerized.