Synthesis and characterization of poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) and nanomagnetite structures

The use of iron oxide nanoparticles for the synthesis of adsorbents materials with application in contaminated water remediation is based on both their magnetic and adsorption properties. Poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) - Poly(Sty-co-DVB)microparticles are widely known for this use and the addition of magnetite comes to add magnetic properties, however it should not limit the functionalization processes for formation of cationic and/or anionic resins. Thus, there is a concern about the stability of magnetite in acidic environments, as required by the sulfonation process, for example. Furthermore, the synthesis of composites with magnetic nanoparticles is a challenge due to the strong magnetic dipole interactions between particles resulting from the high specific surface area, making them susceptible to aggregation. As well as oxidation during the synthesis process can compromise the structure of the initial magnetic material. In this sense, the present work validated processes for the synthesis of Poly(Sty-co-DVB)/magnetite microparticles that sought, as a final result, the incorporation of magnetite aiming to preserve its initial structural conformation. Thus, started from original synthesis method aimed at the production of Poly(Sty-co-DVB) microparticles without magnetite, to methods in which magnetite nanoparticles is added through two distinct processes, different regarding the use or not of oleic acid in its preparation. In this method article we show:•Combination of methods to preserve the structure of magnetite in the Poly(Sty-co-DVB)/magnetite composite.•Simple method of adding magnetite to the Poly(Sty-co-DVB)/magnetite composite synthesis process.•Magnetite treatment method with oleic acid in Poly(Sty-co-DVB)/magnetite composite synthesis. The samples were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Mössbauer spectroscopy to evaluate the chemical modifications that were introduced in the original synthesis method.