Preparation of poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) microspheres by membrane emulsification Original Research Article

The paper discusses the method of preparation poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) microspheres by means of membrane emulsification (ME). Two-step process was evaluated: ME of monomers followed by suspension polymerization. The effects of changing some emulsification parameters as well as polymerization conditions were investigated in relation to microspheres size. It was observed that for membrane of nominal pore size 5 mm used for monomer emulsification, the parameters of polymerization, such as temperature, time, kind of used initiator, have also affected the diameter and distribution of sphere size. It was also noted that the amount of organic phase has a marginal effect on particles diameter and distribution even if high quantity of dispersion phase was applied. Addition of poly(vinyl alcohol) modified the size distribution of obtained spheres; however, the effect was not so pronounced.