Surfactant-Free Emulsion Polymerization Stabilized by Ultrasmall Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Particles Using Acrylic Acid or Methacrylic Acid as Auxiliary Comonomers.

Iron oxide (IO)-based composite latex particles with a patchy IO overlayer were successfully prepared by Pickering emulsion polymerization of acrylic monomers and/or styrene using acrylic acid or methacrylic acid as auxiliary comonomers. The ultrasmall IO particles adsorbed at the latex surface and played the role of a solid stabilizer. The influence of the synthesis conditions on the composite particle size, polymerization kinetics, IO incorporation efficiency, and particle morphology was studied. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the efficiency of iron oxide incorporation was improved with increasing the suspension pH, the amount of auxiliary comonomer, or the IO content and reached ca. 90% under optimized conditions. Reducing the initial iron oxide concentration at constant monomer concentration led to an increased particle size and a reduced colloid stability, indicating that the magnetic nanoparticles stabilized the colloidal nanocomposites. Transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed the presence of iron oxide at the particle surface. In light of these results, a tentative mechanism for Pickering emulsion polymerization using IO nanoparticles as solid stabilizer in the presence of (meth)acrylic acid auxiliary comonomers was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]