title: Preparation of highly monodisperse poly(methyl methacrylate) particles incorporating fluorescent rhodamine 6G for colloidal crystals.
abstract: Soap-free emulsion polymerization was extended to preparation of monodisperse poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles incorporating rhodamine 6G (R6G) fluorescent molecules. The polymerization was conducted in the presence of an anionic monomer, p-styrenesulfonate (NaSS), which improved dispersion stability of the polymer particles. NaSS concentrations was ranged up to 2 mol/m3 H2O in the polymerization at 0.5 kmol/m3 H2O methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer and 5 mol/m3 H2O potassium persulfate (KPS) initiator for R6G concentrations from 0.1 to 10 mol/m3-polymer. At R6G concentrations lower than 1.0 mol/m3-polymer, PMMA particles were highly monodisperse and incorporated most R6G molecules. The average sizes of PMMA particles were in a rage of 160-300 nm, and decreased with the concentration of NaSS. The high monodispersity of the particles enabled the fabrication of colloidal crystals of the particles with a vertical deposition method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-07 Aoba, Aramaki-aza, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nagao
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anzai
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Shunchao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Konno