Rapid Synthesis of Non-Crosslinked and Monodisperse Polystyrene Microspheres

Abstract

Non-crosslinked and monodisperse polystyrene (PS) microspheres showing uniform size were synthesized by using a dispersion polymerization technique in the presence of the Fenton reagent (FeSO4/H2O2) as an initiator. The effects of stabilizer dosage, monomer concentration, volume ratio of dispersion medium and reaction time on both the morphology and dispersity of PS microspheres were investigated. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) indicated that the obtained PS microspheres are perfect with uniform size of about 170 nm under the optimum experimental condition. On the basis of the experimental results, the mechanism of PS polymerization was proposed, which should be helpful to guide the preparation of polymer microspheres with desired uniform size. In comparison with the conventional emulsion polymerization, this new synthesis technique with the Fenton reagent exhibits some advantages such as being a simple and fast polymerization process without deoxygenation.