Premium
Nucleation mechanism and morphology of polystyrene/Fe 3 O 4 latex particles via miniemulsion polymerization using AIBN as initiator
Author(s) -
Luo YingDa,
Dai ChiAn,
Chiu WenYen
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.29481
Subject(s) - miniemulsion , polystyrene , emulsion polymerization , polymerization , materials science , chemical engineering , nucleation , composite number , polymer chemistry , radical polymerization , styrene , potassium persulfate , monomer , nanoparticle , pulmonary surfactant , chemistry , polymer , composite material , copolymer , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , engineering
In this study, oil‐based magnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were first synthesized by a coprecipitation method followed by a surface modification using lauric acid. Polystyrene/Fe 3 O 4 composite particles were then prepared via miniemulsion polymerization method using styrene as monomer, 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant, hexadecane (HD) or sorbitan monolaurate (Span20®) as costabilizer in the presence of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles. The effects of Fe 3 O 4 content, costabilizer, homogenization energy during ultrasonication, and surfactant concentration on the polymerization kinetics (e.g., conversion), nucleation mechanism, and morphology (e.g., size distributions of droplets and latex) of composite particles were investigated. The results showed that at high homogenization energy, an optimum amount of SDS and hydrophobic costabilizer was needed to obtain composite particles nucleated predominately by droplet nucleation mechanism. The morphology of the composite particles can be well controlled by the homogenization energy and the hydrophobicity of the costabilizer. The magnetic composite particles can be made by locating Fe 3 O 4 inside the latex particles or forming a shell layer on their PS core surface depending on the aforementioned polymerization conditions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009