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Novel Experimental Technique for the Determination of Monomer Droplet Size Distribution in Miniemulsion
Author(s) -
do Amaral Marcelo,
Bogner Agnès,
Gauthier Catherine,
Thollet Gilbert,
Jouneau PierreHenri,
Cavaillé JeanYves,
Asua José M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200400539
Subject(s) - miniemulsion , materials science , polymerization , nucleation , environmental scanning electron microscope , monomer , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , polymer , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Summary: The lack of accurate knowledge for measuring monomer droplet size and droplet size distribution has hampered the further progress of miniemulsion polymerization. Monomer droplet size is probably the most important characteristics of a miniemulsion, influencing the miniemulsion stability and the nucleation mechanism. To date, several experimental techniques have been tested to measure miniemulsion droplet size, but none are convenient and accurate. This work presents a novel experimental technique, using a powerful new scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging system, which allows transmission observations of wet samples in an environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). This new imaging technique is a useful technique to directly measure droplet size and droplet size distribution.Miniemulsion droplets in dark field wet STEM imaging conditions.