Influences of emulsive component and treatmental pressure on hollow polymer particles

Hollow polymer microspheres were prepared by alkali/cooling method at high temperature under high pressure using monodisperse styrene-methylacrylic acid copolymer particles. The effects of components of emulsifiers on the particles and of the pressure on their hollow structure were clarified. As clearly revealed by the SEM and TEM analyses, the type of emulsifiers had great effect on dispersion of copolymer particles. The monodisperion of P(St/MAA) becomes better as the content of Tween-80 increases. When the mass ratio between emulsifiers Tween-80 and Span-80 was 3∶1, hollow polymer microspheres were obtained by monodispersed P(St-MAA) particles. And hollow polymer microspheres with 50 nm average shell thickness formed at high temperature under high pressure.