Synthesis and characteristics of poly(methacrylic acid–co–N-isopropylacrylamide)/Nano ZnO thermosensitive composite hollow latex particles

In this work, the poly(methacrylic acid–co–N-isopropylacrylamide)/Nano ZnO thermosensitive composite hollow latex particles was synthesized by three processes. The first process was to synthesize the poly(methyl methacrylate-co- methacrylic acid) (poly(MMA–MAA)) copolymer latex particles by the method of soapless emulsion polymerization. The second process was to polymerize MAA, N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) in the presence of poly(MMA–MAA) latex particles to form the linear poly(MMA–MAA)/crosslinking poly(MAA-NIPAAm) core–shell latex particles, and then the core–shell latex particles were heated in the presence of ammonia solution to form the poly(MAA-NIPAAm) thermosensitive hollow latex particles. In the third process, the poly(MAA-NIPAAm) hollow latex particles reacted with ZnO nanoparticles to form the poly(MAA-NIPAAm)/ZnO thermosensitive composite hollow latex particles on which the ZnO nanoparticles were adsorbed. Besides, a novel process was used to synthesize the poly(MAA-NIPAAm)/ZnO composite latex particles in which the ZnO nanoparticles were encapsulated. The effects of various variables on the morphology of poly(MAA-NIPAAm)/ZnO composite hollow latex particle were studied.