Preparation of Monodisperse Hollow Core Polymer Microspheres via Two-step Dispersion Polymerization

Abstract

Abstract-Monodisperse crosslinked polystyrene (PS) hollow core microspheres were successfully synthesized by two-step dispersion polymerization. The effects of the reaction parameters such as the crosslinking agent concentration, the initiator concentration and the monomer concentration on the particle sizes and size distribution were investigated. The results demonstrated that when the crosslinking agent concentration was low, the hollow microspheres had serious collapse, while the polymer particles became polydisperse with highly concentrated crosslinking agent. When increasing the initiator concentrations, particles with larger sizes and wider size distribution were obtained. If the initial monomer (styrene) weight fraction was too low, the honeycomb hollow ball or even solid particles would be formed, while if the monomer concentration was too high, the hollow microspheres appeared collapsed or ruptured.

Glassy Microspheres for Energy Applications

“…The importance of polymer microbubbles in biomedicine is also undoubted, being used especially as contrast agents for medical imaging and as therapeutic delivery devices; their fabrication has been the subject of many R&D investigations [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. As an example, Table 2 presents a comparison of different methods for preparing polystyrene microbubbles.…”