Nanoparticles of polystyrene latexes by semicontinuous microemulsion polymerization using mixed surfactants

Nanosized polystyrene (PS) latexes stabilized by the mixture of cationic/cationic, anionic/anionic, or anionic/cationic surfactants of various types with high weight ratios of PS to surfactant (ca. 10:1) have been successfully synthesized by a semicontinuous microemulsion polymerization process. For cationic or anionic systems, spherical latex particles with a weight-averaged diameter (Dw) ranging from about 22 to 53 nm were nearly linearly dependent on the weight ratio of the mixed surfactants with similar charges. Their particle size distributions were rather uniform (Dw/Dn < 1.20). For a system with oppositely charged surfactants at nonequimolar ratios, it could produce stable PS particles up to 94 nm in diameter. High molar masses (Mw) of PS ranging from 1.1 to 1.9 x 10(6) g/mol could easily be obtained for all three systems investigated. For both cationic/cationic and anionic/anionic surfactant systems, the number of PS particles per milliliter of latex (Np) generated in the very early stage of O/W' microemulsion remained rather constant throughout the polymerization. This was controlled by using only 1 wt% of mixed surfactants and the continuous addition of a small amount of styrene. The present polymerization method allows one to synthesize nanoparticles of PS or other polymers of high polymer/surfactant weight ratios at some particle sizes that are unable to achieve them with a single type of surfactant.