Analysis of styrene polymerization without surfactant and N2 gas in cylindrical flask

Abstract

The conditions of chemical synthesis can be crucial for polymerization of styrene in such a way that it can be produced latex beads at nanometric range (ϕ < 400nm). In this work, it will be analyzed how the absence of N2 and surfactant will result in colloidal particles with high affinity to agglomerate forming two kinds of nanostructured assemblies: colloidal crystals and nanowires. Four syntheses were realized and four parameters were changed: temperature, impeller speed, and initiator and styrene concentrations. The dispersion was filtered and coated on glass slides by evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process. Morphology and topography were observed at Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) respectively. They show how the synthesis conditions play a vital a role on the formation of self assembly nanostructures that can be applied as templates for sensors and biomaterials devices.