Preparation of Poly[Styrene(ST)-co-Allyloxy-2-Hydroxypropane Sulfonic Acid Sodium Salt(COPS-I)] Colloidal Crystalline...

Colloidal crystalline photonic crystals using highly monodisperse poly[Styrene(ST)-co-Allyloxy-2-hydroxypropane sulfonic acid sodium salt(COPS-I)] microspheres were prepared to study their optical properties under visible light. For this purpose, a series of surfactant-free emulsion copolymerizations was carried out at various reaction conditions such as the changes of ST/COPS-I ratio, polymerization temperature, KPS initiator and DVB crosslinker concentration. All the latices showed highly uniform spherical particles in the size range of 165-550 nm and the respective opaline structural colors from their colloidal photonic crystals. It is found that the changes in such polymerization factors greatly affect the number of particles and particle diameter, polymerization rate, molecular weight, zeta-potential, and refractive indices.