The colloidal dispersions of submicronic polymer particles produced by polymerization in aqueous dispersed media are known as waterborne latex particles. Waterborne latexes are employed in many applications, including adhesives, paints, paper coating, printing inks, rubber products, cement reinforcement and in medical industry. They can be produced by different heterophase polymerization processes like emulsion polymerization, miniemulsion polymerization, dispersion polymerization or suspension polymerization. We report here a route to prepare polystyrene latex microparticles and nanoparticles from cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) stabilized Pickering emulsions. Two populations of latex were produced by polymerization through two concomitant mechanisms: i) polystyrene microparticles by suspension polymerization and ii) polystyrene nanoparticles by emulsion polymerization. The originality of this work is the use of unmodified CNCs as sole stabilizer of both styrene-in-water Pickering emulsion and final nanocomposite latex particles synthesized by polymerization in aqueous dispersed media. The investigation of the polymerization of various monomers (Styrene, Lauryl Methacrylate, Isobornyl Acrylate, Butyl Methacrylate, Methyl Methacrylate) in the presence of different initiators has identified that the solubility of the monomer in the aqueous continuous phase is the key parameter to tune the size distribution of the latex particles.

Unmodified cellulose nanocrystals as stabilizers of polystyrene latex: parameters tuning the particle size

2019 Spring National Meeting

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