Miniemulsions based on styrene/azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) in the presence of polyampholyte triblock copolymers as a surfactant and hexadecane (HD) as a cosurfactant were developed. The polyampholyte was prepared by using methyl methacrylate (MMA), methacrylic acid (MAA), and 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) as monomers. For the sake of comparison, a miniemulsion polymerization with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was carried out using the same procedure as the above series. The monomer droplet sizes and their shelf life tests revealed that the polyampholyte could stabilize miniemulsion and lead nucleation mechanisms to droplet nucleation. Miniemulsion polymerization using SDS as the surfactant possess a higher polymerization rate than that of polyampholyte, probably due to the smaller droplet size. Production of uniform microspheres was also carried out in this work. Highly uniform microspheres prepared using polyampholyte as the surfactant in the presence of acetone could be obtained.
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