Patent ID: 8338534

Claim:
A process for producing a microporous polymeric object, the process comprising the steps of forming a mixture, by thermal-melt mixing, followed by lowering temperature, or by mixing in a solvent, followed by removal of the solvent, of a block copolymer (I) being made of three or more kinds of segments having mutually-different monomer units, one or more of the segments being made of monomer units having a first functional group capable of forming ionic bond and/or hydrogen bond, and the block copolymer (I) forming a three-dimensional co-continuous structure having mutually-independent and continuous regions each made of the segments, due to a phase separation based on incompatibility between the segments, and a polymer (II) having, at other than the terminals of its polymer chain, a second functional group forming ionic bond and/or hydrogen bond with the first functional group, thereby allowing the one or more segments in the block copolymer (I) to be associated with the polymer (II) at many points by the ionic bond and/or hydrogen bond developed between the first and the second functional groups followed by the phase separation; forming a polymeric object with the co-continuous structure including a region that contains the polymer (II) and the segments in the block copolymer (I) being in a state of association with the polymer (II); in the mixture, weakening the ionic bond and/or hydrogen bond between the first functional group of the block copolymer (I) and the second functional group of the polymer (II), and removing the polymer (II) from the region to form, on the polymeric object, continuous pores in a shape corresponding to the region while maintaining the three-dimensional co-continuous structure formed by the block copolymer (I).