• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.185-191
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• 2009

Polystyrene/multi-walled carbon nanotube (PS/MWCNT) composites were prepared by the use of latex technology. The monodisperse PS latex was synthesized by an emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization from styrene/potassium persulfate/water system in the presence of ethanol. The MWCNTs were first treated with acid mixture to eliminate impurities, dispersed in deionized water driven by ultrasonicator, and then mixed with the PS latex. From these mixtures, PS/MWCNT composites were prepared by freeze-drying and subsequent compression molding. In the small-amplitude oscillatory shear experiments, both complex viscosity and storage modulus increased with increasing MWCNT content. A pronounced effect of MWCNT content was observed, resulting in larger storage modulus and stronger yield behavior at low frequencies when compared to unmodified PS. It showed a transition from viscous to elastic behavior with increasing MWCNT content. Over the MWCNT content of 3 wt%, the storage modulus was higher than the loss modulus across all frequencies.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2010

Polymer core and metal shell composite particles have been prepared by the electroless nickel plating on the surface of monodisperse polystyrene microspheres. Various sizes of polystyrene particles with highly monodisperse state could be synthesized by controlling the dispersion medium in dispersion polymerization. Electroless nickel plating was performed on the polystyrene particle with diameter of $3.4\;{\mu}m$. The morphology of polystyrene/nickel composite particles was investigated to see the effect of the plating conditions, such as the $PdCl_2$ and glycine concentrations and the dropping rate of nickel plating solution, on nickel deposition. With $PdCl_2$ and glycine concentrations at more than 0.4 g/L and 1 M, respectively, more uniform nickel layer and less precipitated nickel aggregates were formed. At the given plating time of 2 h, the same amount of plating solution was introduced by varying the dropping rate. Though the effect of dropping rate on particle morphology was not noticeable, the dropping rate of 0.15 mL/min for 60 min showed rather uniform plating.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.287-298
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• 2000

In preparing micron-sized monodisperse polystyrene beads by dispersion polymerization, the conversion, and the particle size and its distribution were affected by the reaction temperature, concentration of the monomer, solvent and initiator, molecular weight and concentration of the steric stabilizer, amount of oxygen existing in the reactor, and an appropriate combination of these starting materials. Ethanol as a dispersing agent, styrene as a monomer, PVP as a steric stabilizer, AIBN as an initiator, DVB as a cross-linking agent and toluene as a co-solvent were the basic materials for the synthesis. The reaction rate and the conversion were increased with the reaction temperature and the amount of DVB from 1 to 4%, and the conversion was saturated after 10 hours of the reaction time. The optimum reaction recipe for the preparation of the monodisperse PS beads was 25% styrene monomer, 0.5% DVB, 25% toluene, 10-15% PVP, and 2 and 4% AIBN, thereby, 3.9~4 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 3.4~9.3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ of polystyrene beads, respectively, were successfully synthesized.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.50-55
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• 2006

When the monodisperse polystyrene(PS)/HDDA polymer particles were synthesized via one-step polymerization using polystyrene seed particles by dispersion polymerization, the effects of 1) the molecular weight of seed polymer particles, 2) the ratio of the absorbed HDDA to the seed polymer particles (swelling ratio) and 3) seeded polymerization rate on the surface morphology of PS/HDDA polymer particles were investigated. It was observed that the creation of the crater shaped defect on the surface of PS/HDDA polymer particles was irrespective of the molecular weight of seed polymer ant swelling ratio. But its surface morphology could be controlled by the change of the seeded polymerization rate.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.750-756
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• 2009

Stable, spherical, polystyrene particles were synthesized in ab initio dispersion polymerization by using the poly(methacrylic acid)[PMAA] macro-RAFT agent. The presence of the PMAA macro-RAFT agent on the polystyrene (PS) particles was confirmed by NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. The PS particle size was influenced by the concentration of the RAFT agent and monomer due to the initial nucleation. When the concentration of the PMAA macro-RAFT agent was increased from 2 to 10 wt% relative to the monomer, the average particle size decreased from 2.31 to 1.36 ${\mu}m$, the conversion decreased from 93.3 to 88.9%, the weight-average molecular weight increased from 46,300 to 150,200 g $mol^{-1}$ and the PDI decreased from 2.79 to 1.94, respectively. In particular, the incorporation of 10 wt% of PMAA macro-RAFT agent produced monodisperse PS spheres of 1.36 ${\mu}m$ with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 6.44%. Thus, the PMAA macro-RAFT agent worked as a reactive steric stabilizer providing monodisperse, micron-sized, PS particles.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2012

Polystyrene-polyimide core-shell microsphere was prepared by dispersion polymerization using poly(amic acid) as the stabilizer. Iron oxide was formed at the microsphere by thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl impregnated in the microsphere. The magnetic polystyrene-polyimide microsphere was monodisperse and the size was about 500 nm. The magnetic polystyrene-polyimide microsphere had 40% of iron oxide, which was identified as $Fe_3O_4$ by X-ray diffraction.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.403-411
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• 2007

Monodisperse micron-sized polystyrene (PS) spheres were successfully obtained using a single stage soap-free emulsion method in aqueous media mixed with ethanol (co-solvent) containing NaCI as the electrolyte. The optimum conditions for preparing the monodisperse PS microspheres, using soap-free emulsion polymerization in a water/ethanol mixture with an electrolyte, were studied. The presence of the co-solvent and electrolyte controlled the particle dispersion stability during the polymerization. The microspheres formed using PS, with a weight-average diameter of $2.6{\mu}m$, coefficient of variation of 5.3% and zeta potential of -15.1 eV, were successfully obtained in the presence of 0.1 wt% NaCI, 10 wt% monomer, 0.1 wt% initiator and 95/5 (g/g) of a water/ethanol mixture reacted at $70^{\circ}C$ for 24 h.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-65
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• 2019

Anisotropic particles have been issued in various fields due to their unique physical properties. Herein, a novel dynamic phase separation method (DPS) is introduced to fabricate anisotropic acorn-like nanoparticles. DPS consists of two dynamic conditions; solvent evaporation and nonsolvent induced precipitation. The bottom layer is controlled by feeding the water as a non-solvent diluent, and the phase separation of the upper layer relies on the diffusion and evaporation of a volatile good solvent. At this condition, the acorn-like particles were fabricated. Under a closed box filled with water (spontaneous phase separation), monodisperse polystyrene (PS) particles were synthesized. At the coexistence between DPS and spontaneous phase separation, the sizes of cap and particle were changed. Also, the volume of PS solutions influences on the particle shape. Since the unique structures could be utilized into various applications, if advanced techniques such as membrane-based controlled water feeding is developed, monodisperse acorn-like particles could be tuned.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.534-539
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• 2010

Polystyrene (PS)/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposites were prepared via latex technology and the effect of nanotube length on rheological properties were investigated. Monodisperse PS particle was synthesized by the emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization and two types of MWCNTs were used after surface modification to improve dispersion state and to remove impurities. Final nanocomposites were prepared by the freeze-drying process after dispersing the PS particles and the surface-modified MWCNTs in a ultrasonic bath. The effects of MWCNT content and nanotube length on rheological properties were evaluated by imposing the small-amplitude oscillatory shear flow. The PS/MWCNT nanocomposites showed that rheological properties were enhanced as the amount and length of MWCNT increased. It is speculated that the rheological characteristics of nanocomposites change from liquid-like to solid-like as the MWCNT amount increases, and the critical concentration to achieve network structure decreases as the nanotube length increases.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1345-1348
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• 2010

Highly monodisperse polystyrene (PS) nanospheres were fabricated by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization in water using styrene, 2,2'-azobis(2-methyl propionamidine) dihydrochloride (AIBA), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). The size and distribution of the PS nanospheres were systematically investigated in terms of initiator concentration, stabilizer concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time, and reactant concentration. With increasing AIBA initiator concentration, PS particle sizes are raised proportionally, and can be controlled from 120 to 380 nm. Particle sizes were reduced with increasing PVP concentration. This decrease occurs because a high PVP concentration leads to a large number of primary nuclei in the early stage of polymerization. When the reaction temperature increased, the sizes of the PS particles decrease slightly. The particles grew quickly during the initial reaction stage (1-3 h) and the growth rate became steady-state after 6 h. The PS sizes approximately doubled when the reactant (styrene, PVP, azo-initiator) concentrations were increased by a factor of eight.