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One‐Pot Fabrication of Rattle‐Like Capsules with Multicores by Pickering‐Based Polymerization with Nanoparticle Nucleation
Author(s) -
Zou Shengwen,
Hu Yang,
Wang Chaoyang
Publication year - 2014
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.201400197
Subject(s) - pickering emulsion , materials science , nucleation , chemical engineering , hexadecane , polymerization , monomer , polystyrene , nanoparticle , hydrophobic silica , miniemulsion , polymer chemistry , polymer , surface modification , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , chemistry , composite material , engineering
Rattle‐like polymer capsules with multicores in one shell are facilely fabricated by oil‐in‐water Pickering emulsion polymerization for the first time. The oil phase contains hydrophobic silica nanoparticles dispersed in polymerizable monomer, styrene, and unpolymerizable solvent, hexadecane. The multicore rattle‐like capsules are facilely produced after the polymerization of monomers in the oil droplets. The key point of this one‐pot method lies in the nucleation of hydrophobic silica and the phase separation between the resulting polystyrene and hexadecane. The influences of the contents of silica, hexadecane, cross‐linker, and stabilizer on the structure and morphology of rattle‐like capsules are systematically investigated. Moreover, functionalization of the rattle‐like capsules can be developed easily by varying hydrophobic nucleation nanoparticles in the oil phase. This work opens up a new route to fabricate multilevel capsules or spheres.