Preparation of Monodisperse and Anion‐Charged Polystyrene Microspheres Stabilized with Polymerizable Sodium Styrene Sulfonate by Dispersion Polymerization

Abstract

A novel dispersion polymerization system to produce “clean” polystyrene (PS) particles, using a polymerizable sodium styrene sulfonate (NaSS) as stabilizer, and a mixture of methanol/water (MeOH/H2O) as the reaction medium was investigated. The effects of the polymerization parameters, such as the methanol/water ratio in the medium, the concentration of the stabilizer, the initiator and the monomer on the resulting particles were studied. By observing the morphological changes of the PS particles by SEM and analyzing the surface chemical composition of these particles by XPS, it is found that this system had the following unique features: as little as 0.05 wt.‐% of NaSS (based on styrene as opposed to 5 wt.‐% for a routine dispersion polymerization system) was enough to prepare stable latex with monodisperse particles; as high as 20 vol.‐% of monomer (as opposed to 5 wt.‐% for polymerization system in the absence of surfactants) could be added into the polymerization system to produce monodisperse particles; surface‐charged and monodisperse particles with average diameters of approximately 470–1600 nm could be directly obtained.

Two‐Dimensional Assembly of Symmetric Colloidal Dimers under Electric Fields

“…Synthesis of colloidal dimers : Synthesis of colloidal dimers is performed with a multiple‐step seeded emulsion polymerization, based on an modification of Kim et al16 and Park et al18 In brief, spherical polystyrene particles (the seeds, ∼1 μm) are first prepared by dispersion polymerization in a mixture of methanol and water 41. The spherical particles are further cross‐linked with styrene, divinylbenzene (DVB), and 3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propylacrylate (TMSPA).…”

Thermosensitive Molecular, Colloidal, and Bulk Interactions Using a Simple Surfactant

“…Colloidal Synthesis and 2D Microscopy : Fluorescence microscopy was used to visualize the flexibility of individual bonds between colloidal particles. Fluorescently labeled 2 r = 1.4 μm polystyrene colloids were synthesized using dispersion polymerization 35. The following were added to a 200 mL round‐bottom flask: methanol (47.2 mL), water (8.4 mL), styrene (10.0 mL), AIBN (200 mg) and sodium styrene sulfonate (50 mg).…”

Adsorption of Ellipsoidal Particles at Liquid–Liquid Interfaces

“…The particle synthesis is adapted from a procedure by Zhang et al 35 in which a charged stabilizer is integrated into the polymer chain using a one-step dispersion polymerisation.…”