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Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness

Shape is an essential property of polymeric particles. Herein, we propose a simple method to synthesize polymeric particles with a well-controlled concave shape. Our method takes advantage of the powerful seeded emulsion polymerization strategy with the well-known principle of “like dissolves like”...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jing, Wenhua, Du, Sinan, Zhang, Zexin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6415454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30966493
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym10040458
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author Jing, Wenhua
Du, Sinan
Zhang, Zexin
author_facet Jing, Wenhua
Du, Sinan
Zhang, Zexin
author_sort Jing, Wenhua
collection PubMed
description Shape is an essential property of polymeric particles. Herein, we propose a simple method to synthesize polymeric particles with a well-controlled concave shape. Our method takes advantage of the powerful seeded emulsion polymerization strategy with the well-known principle of “like dissolves like” in solvent chemistry. We first prepared polystyrene (PS) particles with a single dimple by seeded emulsion polymerization. Then the dimpled PS particles were dispersed in a dimethylformamide (DMF) and water mixture. Consequently, the non-crosslinked polymer chains inside the particle were dissolved by DMF, a good solvent for PS, and the PS chains migrated out of the particle, causing buckling of the dimple and enlargement of the concave. By systematic change of the fraction of DMF in the solvent mixture, we changed the amount of the dissolved PS chains, and achieved polymeric particles with precisely tuned degree of concaveness. These concave particles were found to readily self-assemble, driven by polymer-induced depletion interaction. The concave PS particles reported here provide potential building blocks for self-assembled polymeric materials, and new model systems for condensed matter research.
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spelling pubmed-64154542019-04-02 Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness Jing, Wenhua Du, Sinan Zhang, Zexin Polymers (Basel) Article Shape is an essential property of polymeric particles. Herein, we propose a simple method to synthesize polymeric particles with a well-controlled concave shape. Our method takes advantage of the powerful seeded emulsion polymerization strategy with the well-known principle of “like dissolves like” in solvent chemistry. We first prepared polystyrene (PS) particles with a single dimple by seeded emulsion polymerization. Then the dimpled PS particles were dispersed in a dimethylformamide (DMF) and water mixture. Consequently, the non-crosslinked polymer chains inside the particle were dissolved by DMF, a good solvent for PS, and the PS chains migrated out of the particle, causing buckling of the dimple and enlargement of the concave. By systematic change of the fraction of DMF in the solvent mixture, we changed the amount of the dissolved PS chains, and achieved polymeric particles with precisely tuned degree of concaveness. These concave particles were found to readily self-assemble, driven by polymer-induced depletion interaction. The concave PS particles reported here provide potential building blocks for self-assembled polymeric materials, and new model systems for condensed matter research. MDPI 2018-04-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6415454/ /pubmed/30966493 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym10040458 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Jing, Wenhua
Du, Sinan
Zhang, Zexin
Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title_full Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title_fullStr Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title_full_unstemmed Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title_short Synthesis of Polystyrene Particles with Precisely Controlled Degree of Concaveness
title_sort synthesis of polystyrene particles with precisely controlled degree of concaveness
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6415454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30966493
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym10040458
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