Ammonium Hydroxide Function in Free Emulsifier
Ammonium Hydroxide Function in Free Emulsifier
Ammonium Hydroxide Function in Free Emulsifier
6, pp 397-402 (2009)
Gi-Ra Yi
Korea Basic Science Institute, Seoul 136-713, Korea
Received April 15, 2008; Revised November 15, 2008; Accepted November 30, 2008
Abstract: In emulsifier-free, emulsion polymerization with ionizable comonomer, the ionization of the comonomer
is critical in determining the size of the final polymeric particles at sub-micrometer scale. In this study, polystyrene
latex beads with carboxylates on the surface were synthesized using acrylic acid as a comonomer. Specifically,
ammonium hydroxide was added to the emulsifier-free polymerization system to promote the ionization of acrylic
acid by increasing pH. Smaller polystyrene latex particles were produced by increasing the ammonium hydroxide
concentration in the reaction system, due to the enhanced stability promoted by the ionization of acrylic acid during
the nucleation step. In addition, the surface morphology of the polystyrene latex particles was controlled by the con-
centration of acrylic acid, the dissociation of which was influenced by the ammonium hydroxide concentration.
Keywords: polystyrene, acrylic acid, ammonium hydroxide, emulsifier-free polymerization, solubility.
397
H. Dong et al.
Experimental
Figure 6. Surface morphology changes with respect to the comonomer and ammonium hydroxide concentrations. The acrylic acid con-
centrations were set 0.0, 0.06, and 0.17 M for each ammonium hydroxide concentration. The acrylic acid concentration increases from
left to right. (a~c) particles prepared without ammonium hydroxide, (d~f) particles prepared with 0.24 M ammonium hydroxide, (g~i)
particles prepared with 0.75 M ammonium hydroxide. SEM pictures were taken at 50,000 times magnification.
addition of ammonium hydroxide to the reacting solution. (7) P. J. Feeney, D. H. Napper, and R. G. Gilbert, Macromole-
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(10) S. Can and T. Tanrisever, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 103, 2494
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(11) G. T. D. Shouldice, G. A.Vandezande, and A. Rudin, Eur.
Acknowledgement. This work is outcome of the foster- Polym. J., 30, 179 (1994).
ing project of the Specialized Graduate School of Hydrogen (12) S. Can and T. Tanrisever, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 103, 2494
& Fuel Cell supported financially by the Ministry of Com- (2007).
merce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE). GRY was supported (13) D. Zou, J. J. Aklonis, and R. Salovey, J. Polym. Sci. Part A:
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Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) (Project num- (14) T. Yamamoto, M. Nakayama, Y. Kanda, and K. Higashitani,
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