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Preparation of phenolic microspheres in water/“water” system
Author(s) -
Xu Xu,
Zhang Junying,
Jin Zichao,
Cheng Jue
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.2010
Subject(s) - resorcinol , dispersity , aqueous solution , materials science , particle size , hydroxyethyl cellulose , formaldehyde , nuclear chemistry , polymerization , chemical engineering , aqueous two phase system , ammonium sulfate , particle (ecology) , hydroxypropyl cellulose , polymer chemistry , cellulose , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , polymer , oceanography , engineering , metallurgy , geology
Phenolic microspheres were obtained by condensation of resorcinol and formaldehyde via a novel water/“water” suspension polymerization (WWSP) system, which was proposed and constructed for the first time. Resorcinol/formaldehyde aqueous solutions, ammonium sulfate aqueous solution, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), and sodium hydroxyl were employed as water phase, “water” phase, stabilizer for protecting colloid, and catalyst, respectively. Stable and perfect phenolic microspheres were prepared in this special WWSP system. Particle sizes, size distribution, as well as morphology of microspheres were investigated by scanning electron microscope and computerized image analysis program. The results showed that particle size increased from 0.38 to 2.22 µm along with the increase of concentration of ammonium sulfate in “water” phase from 1.5% to 12.5% and the ratio of resorcinol to formaldehyde from 1:1.5 to 1:4. On the contrary, the particle size decreased from 1.80 to 0.30 µm with the increase of the amount of HEC from 0.1 to 1.0 g and amount of catalyst from 0.05 to 0.2 g. The polydispersity index value of the resulting microspheres is quite narrow, ranging from 1.01 to 1.30, which meant that the morphology of phenolic microspheres was unique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.