title: Multi-hollow polymer microspheres with enclosed surfaces and compartmentalized voids prepared by seeded swelling polymerization method.
abstract: Multi-hollow particles have drawn extensive research interest due to their high specific areas and abundant inner voids, whereas their convenient synthesis still remains challenging. In this paper, we report a simple and convenient method based on seeded swelling polymerization to prepare the multi-hollow microspheres with enclosed surfaces and compartmentalized voids using monodisperse poly (styrene-co-sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate) microspheres as seed particles. A formation mechanism of the multi-hollow structure was proposed involving the processes of water absorption, coalescence and stabilization of water domains, immobilization of multi-hollow structure, and coverage of surface dimples. The influencing parameters on the morphology of the microspheres, including weight ratio of sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate to styrene in the seed particles, dosage of the swelling monomer and the crosslinking agent were systematically investigated. The internal structure of the resultant microspheres could be tuned from solid to multi-hollow by controlling over these parameters. Multi-hollow microspheres with compartmentalized chambers, smooth surfaces and narrow size distributions were obtained as a result.
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China; State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: dmyu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Demei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kaiming
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guohe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Joint School of Nanoscience and Naonoengineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC 27401, USA.
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuhang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Dispersion polymerization; Multi-hollow microspheres; Seeded swelling polymerization; Sulfonated groups; Water absorption