## 3 Results and Discussion  
### The Morphology of the Research Materials and Their Chemical Properties  
Table 2 presents the data of the elemental analysis for the studied materials. Theoretical values for pDVB are 92.2% of carbon and 7.8% of hydrogen. As one can see the results obtained for pDVB, pDVB-P and pDVB-T are very close to the theoretical ones. Some differences are due to the manner of conducting the polymerization process. The presence of nitrogen in the structure of polymers is a consequence of using the AIBN as the polymerization initiator. In the case of pDVB-M the differences are bigger pointing to the fact that a little amount of added porogens (T and /or P) were entrapped in the polymeric structure. The analysis of the results obtained for pDVB-SO\({}_{3}\)H proved that sulphonation was successful. It was also calculated that for every three aromatic rings of the polymer, two sulphonic groups are attached. The exact number of acidic groups can be quantified by determining the acid number (AN) using a standard titration method. In the case of pDVB-SO\({}_{3}\)H it was ca 18 mg/g. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy gives additional confirmation of the chemical structure of the studied polymers. The spectra of pDVB and pDVB-SO\({}_{3}\)H are presented in Figure 1. The spectra of pDVB-P pDVB-T and pDVB-M were omitted as they were identical with that for pDVB. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**Polymer** & **C (\%)** & **H (\%)** & **N (\%)** & **Other (\%)** & **AN (mg/g)** \\ \hline pDVB & 89.2 & 8.17 & 0.48 & 2.15 & - \\ pDVB-P & 89.01 & 8.25 & 0.31 & 2.43 & - \\ pDVB-T & 89.53 & 8.2 & 0.4 & 1.87 & - \\ pDVB-M & 84.08 & 7.82 & 0.41 & 7.69 & - \\ pDVB-SO\({}_{3}\)H & 61.43 & 6.91 & 0.25 & 31.41 & 18.68 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: The results of elemental analysis and acid number (AN). In the spectrum of pDVB four absorption bands in the range 1430-1600 cm\({}^{-1}\) are signals characteristic for aromatic system (\(\rho\) =C-H and \(\
u\) C=C) and that at 707 cm\({}^{-1}\) is due to ring out-of-plane deformation vibrations. Symmetric and asymmetric out-of-plane deformation vibrations of two neighboring H atoms observed at 792 and 830 cm\({}^{-1}\) inform that the benzene rings are di-substituted. Moreover, quite intense signals of out-of-plane deformation vibrations of vinyl groups at 995 and 902 cm\({}^{-1}\) are also observed, indicating the presence of residual carbon-carbon double bonds, which is also confirmed by DSC analysis. The characteristic absorption bands derived from the deformation vibrations of aliphatic groups are visible at \(\sim\)1375 and stretching ones at 2850-3000 cm\({}^{-1}\). The spectrum of pDVB-SO3H, obtained after the sulphonation reaction, reveals new absorption bands at 1160 and 1091 cm\({}^{-1}\) due to the asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of SO3H group. Moreover, bands characteristic for sulphonic acids are visible at 2700-3600 cm\({}^{-1}\) (\(\
u\)-OH) and 990-1090 cm\({}^{-1}\) (\(\
u\) S=O). The DSC results of the studied polymers are presented in Figure 2. Due to the fact, that pDVB is a highly cross-linked aromatic polymer, it has good thermal stability. Its decomposition takes place in the range of 350 to 490 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The flat and broad exothermic peak (120-300 \({}^{\circ}\)C) is the effect of the post-curing process. This process is characteristic for highly crosslinked polymers synthesized via suspension polymerization [24; 25]. The shape and low energetic effect (27 J/g) of the peak prove that only an insignificant number of vinyl groups did not react during the polymerization. Figure 1: The ATR-FTIR spectra of pDVB and pDVB-SO3H polymers. Figure 2: The DSC results for pDVB and pDVB-SO3H polymers. The sulphonic group just like sulphuric acid possesses hygroscopic properties. Moreover, sulphonated polymer (pDVB-SO\({}_{3}\)H) presents such property, for this reason in the DSC curve in the range of 50-200 \({}^{\circ}\)C a big endothermic peak originated from desorption of water is visible.