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Sulfonation of solid polystyrene using gaseous sulfur trioxide
Author(s) -
Kucera F.,
Jancar J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.21398
Subject(s) - polystyrene , materials science , diffusion , scanning electron microscope , kinetics , activation energy , yield (engineering) , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , sulfur trioxide , reaction rate constant , polymer chemistry , chemistry , thermodynamics , polymer , composite material , chromatography , physics , quantum mechanics , sulfuric acid , engineering , metallurgy
Kinetics of the heterogeneous sulfonation of polystyrene (PS) beads using gaseous SO 3 was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron diffraction scattering spectroscopy (EDS) was employed to study the kinetics of diffusion of SO 3 into the PS particles. The diffusion of SO 3 through the barrier of sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) on the beads surface was the primary parameter determining the rate and the yield of the sulfonation reaction. The measurement of the time dependence of the thickness of sulfonated layer formed on the solid PS surface provided for the hypothesis that the sulfonation in heterogeneous phase was diffusion controlled. Diffusion coefficients of SO 3 in PS at −5°C, 22°C, and at 50°C and activation energy of SO 3 diffusion to the solid PS were determined from these experimental data assuming in the first approximation a simple diffusion unaffected by the ongoing sulfonation reaction. The experimental data were fitted using Johanson‐Mehl‐Avrami‐Jerofyeev‐Kolgomorov's equation to obtain an overall rate constant of heterogeneous sulfonation on solid PS surface. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers