Abstract
To achieve a better understanding of the kinetics of microemulsion polymerization, we have examined monomer partitioning between micelles and polymer particles during polymerization of aqueous microemulsions of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactant and styrene, n-butyl methacrylate, tert-butyl methacrylate, and n-hexyl methacrylate monomers. Polymerizing microemulsions are simulated by equilibrium mixtures of unpolymerized and fully polymerized microemulsions for which the monomer partitioning is accurately measured using small-angle neutron scattering. Experimental results are semiquantitatively reproduced by modeling the monomer partitioning as a competition between the Flory-Huggins bulk polymer free energy and the Helfrich curvature elastic energy of the surfactant monolayers.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3224-3232 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Macromolecules |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 8 2001 |